Synopsis
A story that recounts Tobias Wolff's years of adolescence and his abusive relationship with his stepfather Dwight.
Thoughts
Watching someone's life unfold before my very eyes is always entertaining for me. I'm not sure what it is that makes me such a sucker for these types of movies, but if it is based on someone's life, I must see it. Most statistics we hear nowadays are pulled right out of the person's ass that was kind enough to present them to us. But, I feel that most films based on someone's life is half hollywood, half truth. It's often times you read or hear people arguing over what actually happened. I know half the movie isn't true because some people's lives are just boring, so hollywood decides to spruce it up a bit. This isn't an excuse for them to do so, but would Titanic have been a box office hit if James Cameron would have just had the ship set sail and film it sinking? Unfortunately, no.
This Boy's Life is one of the first films I remember reading the book before seeing the movie. Some people get really upset if you don't read the book before seeing the movie, but that's an argument for another day. When I was fourteen, these memoirs were quite relatable. I knew exactly what he was going through and it made it a much more personal read through. The film adaptation is why we're here though.
This tells the story of Tobias Wolff, Toby, or Jack, as he prefers, in his adolescence. His mother takes him to Salt Lake City where she believes they'll become wealthy after finding uranium. Much to her disbelief, all she finds are terrible jobs and even worse men. How does Jack adjust to it all? He loves his mother, so he'll follow her to the end of the earth. Of course, he does run into his fair share of trouble. Shoplifting, skipping school and fighting are just some of the things he get caught up with. He meets his match when his mother meets Dwight. Jack and his mother eventually move into Dwight's place in Concrete and from there brew's a war that boils into an all out brawl between Jack and Dwight before the end. The book, however, keeps going and he tells us of his life after concrete. This is where the hollywood argument comes to play because if they were keep filming it wouldn't end on such a positive note.
The story itself, at times, quite depressing, was compelling and rewarding in the end. Well, the movie was, but I'll get to that later. The cast was fantastic. Leonardo DiCaprio's portrayal of Jack was remarkable. Sure, he may young, but his acting skills seemed as if he had been doing this for twenty years already. A natural, if you will. He does have the most annoying screech, which could have inspired the most annoying sound in the world as heard in Dumb and Dumber, but he's young. Robert De Niro isn't new to playing a character of this stature. More like melding together two characters he's previously played. You find yourself easily despising De Niro throughout the film. Caroline, Jack's mother, is played by Ellen Barkin. I think this was her best role in her career. Yeah, she's quite the actress in all of her films, but she does an incredible job as Caroline.
I found myself annoyed at times with this movie. Why? I just wanted his mother to realize that she was selfish and practically uninvolved with her son. This caused Jack to act selfish and lash out in the ways he did. If she hadn't been that way, maybe Jack wouldn't have suffered the abuse from Dwight. The last half of the movie she literally says that she will not referee in order to make her marriage work. Are you kidding me? Your husband torments your son and you want it to work? What would have happened if she hadn't intervened in the kitchen brawl? Even though she does snap back to reality (cue "Lose Yourself"), I just always find myself quite irritated and annoyed with how far she has to go before seeing that the marriage won't work. If I remember correctly, the marriage lasted two years.
This Boy's Life is a very well made adaptation. Maybe if it was made today instead of in '93, they would have told the entire story instead of focusing solely on the Dwight encounter. Those were different times because now I think people can handle realism, so they wouldn't need a light hearted ending. Think about a film like The Bicycle Thieves. His bike is stolen, never recovered, probably lost his job, life goes on and that was that. Anyways, it's a movie not to be missed. If you enjoyed films that are similar and also star DiCaprio in the lead role, The Basketball Diaries and Catch Me If You Can, you'll enjoy This Boy's Life.
IMDB: 7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 6.4/10
WeFLM: 7/10
Come for the turkey shoot. Stay for the kitchen brawl.
-kp
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