Reviews

The Boy Who Cried Bitch: The Adolescent Years is a god-awful little nightmare of a movie that has no relationship whatsoever to the excellent 1991 film starring Harley Cross. Different director, different character names, unrelated plot. This atrocity simply steals the main title and for the next 99 minutes inflicts the viewer with boredom and mindless violence without any motivation at all.

Another reviewer has stated that this movie provides "a realistic and true sense of what MOST American families go through". Well, that is only true if most American families count psychotic killers amongst their members. Additionally they state that the actions of the main character mirror similar actions due to what they perceive to be a general "economic downturn". I'd remind them that the family in this film is very wealthy, and money or lack thereof is no problem. Nor is purchasing a mansion for a summer getaway any type of financial burden for them. No one in this film family has a job, as they are independently wealthy. This is definitely NOT a study of "middle America". It does NOT show the "real deal", and the movie nails NOTHING "on the head". If this is indeed the directors first effort, then may it be his last effort as well. Have the creativity to come up with an original title instead of literally swiping the main title of a previously released, unrelated, little known, albeit great film.

Yeah, I guess it's filmed well, and the acting is OK, but it's all for naught. By the end of the story no one will really care as no understanding or even twisted empathy for the main character has ever been developed. If there was even a scant overall viewer desire established by the nine other people who wasted nearly 100 minutes of their life watching this, it is a desire for the main character to die horribly so the whole thing will finally and mercifully end.

I suppose this is well made, but it leaves the lasting impression of the Jews as murderers, devoid of feeling, evil in nature, liars, the most awful stereotypical characteristics and therefore a most incomplete film. Jews are shown running over a small child then attempting to leave the scene. In another story, the Jewish landowner has an affair with his female Arab worker and then ends up shooting her dead to protect himself, then lies about it. The Jews are shown not treating their workers very well. Twice during the film we hear the Arab say to their fellow Arab, now an outcast, "go live amongst the Jews, maybe you can get some work and a place to stay". This is ultimately an anti Jewish film and I do not recommend it except to anti Semites.

Alec Guinness becomes Hitler, and it is the most realistic portrayal I've ever seen. Derek Jacoby and Anthony Hopkins come no where close to this in their respective films, Inside The Third Reich and The Bunker. This is like a color camera capturing Hitler speaking in English. It is frightening yet has touches of humor, especially when the announcement of Hitlers death is made to the other residents of the bunker, you see a pretty blond woman reach for her small case containing cyanide capsules and cigarettes. She chooses the cigarettes and she and everyone else in the room light up. The most memorable line in the film is Hitler trying to conjure up some of the old charismatic magic of the past, addressing a young captain played by Simon Ward. "The Gods give their love only to those who demand the impossible. Mankind is ruled by will, by determination. When the will is thrust by genius, it generates a force which throughout history has proved irresistible"

I greatly enjoyed the Rainmaker and have seen it numerous times. I must say however, that one of the reasons I like it so much is that it is so similar to the Verdict starring Paul Newman from 1982, which I loved. I am honestly surprised that there were no lawsuits regarding the two films, as I see simply names changed, characters made older or younger, etc. Matt Damon plays young, naive Rudy Baylor, a lawyer with no experience. Newman plays Frank Galvin, burnt-out alcoholic lawyer. Danny Devito plays the Jack Warden role. One case focuses upon a boy stricken with leukemia in which the insurance company will not cover a bone marrow transplant. The other film's focus is upon a woman who enters a hospital to give birth and is given the wrong anesthetic. The surprise witnesses are similar too. And the verdict in both films is extremely similar with both juries asking to be allowed to increase the monies awarded. Mr. Grisham probably thought that no one would notice 15 years later. Most didn't notice. I did.