Mother has a special bond with her son and will go all out to defend him, even at the expense of her marriage, even though she knows in her heart that he's a bad person. Sounds familiar? It's a theme that's been played out in many movies over the years, including We Need to Talk About Kevin and a recent movie about a killer kid from outer space, whose name I forget. Here the kid is from a war torn country in Africa, which is not far from outer space since the setting for this movie is suburban America. As the Oedipus Complex plays out, the tensions rise and all in all, the movie becomes quite watchable. Naomi Watts, who plays the mother, is one of my favorite actors and I watched this movie for her sake. I wasn't disappointed. The actor who played the son was mostly annoying, with his fake charm and was just about bearable when he dropped it.
