It's the 70's. Francis Doyle (Emile Hirsch) and Tim Sullivan (Kieran Culkin) are best friends and altar boys at a Catholic school run by Sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster) and Father Casey (Vincent D'Onofrio). The kids are comic book fans and they have created comic book superheroes of themselves in their lives. Francis has a romance with troubled Margie Flynn (Jena Malone).
I try to find a way to love these characters but each one pushes back at me in their own ways. Francis is too passive. Tim is a psycho. The two others are blanks. I don't know what to do with Margie. Jena Malone plays it like a victim at which she is very good but we are continuously told that she is not the victim. It's a very complicated character which is relegated to being a side character. Jodie Foster is interesting but she needs a better final scene with Francis. Each character is a challenge to find a connection. Like the comic book animated connective scenes, the movie suggests real characters but there is the hyper-characterization which disconnects me from these roles.
I try to find a way to love these characters but each one pushes back at me in their own ways. Francis is too passive. Tim is a psycho. The two others are blanks. I don't know what to do with Margie. Jena Malone plays it like a victim at which she is very good but we are continuously told that she is not the victim. It's a very complicated character which is relegated to being a side character. Jodie Foster is interesting but she needs a better final scene with Francis. Each character is a challenge to find a connection. Like the comic book animated connective scenes, the movie suggests real characters but there is the hyper-characterization which disconnects me from these roles.