Heaven Help Us

This movie depicts a time that has now become a part of history. St. Michael's School closed its doors earlier this year. The neighborhood which was populated by Irish and Italian kids is now primarily Latino and lower-income,who couldn't afford the rising tuition.

The situations, as portrayed, were actually quite realistic for an inner-city parochial school. Some might say the brutality toward the boys was extreme- but pretty close to the truth.

Actual scenes were used in the neighborhood. The building that housed the candy store is still there, empty and derelict.

The movie caught the aura of the era and is becoming a 'cult classic'

I attended Catholic school for several years. While it wasn't as bad as what was depicted in this film I found it borderline unpleasant for the most part. It's not to say priests and brothers weren't nice, it just wasn't my thing.

I've always liked Andrew McCarthy and he did real well here in one of his first major roles. I believe his grandparents wanted him to become a priest but hormones, school, classmates, crushes, and overall the human condition get in the way. It's what I remember this film revolving around .

Many hilarious moments in this film.

This gentle, warm comedy set in a Catholic school in New York in 1965 seems to have been overlooked for a longtime. Maybe it got lost amongst the so called 'Brat Pack' movies of the mid eighties or maybe the name change to 'Catholic Boys' for it's UK release didn't help it's recognition. This is certainly a hidden gem with plenty of funny lines from Rooney (Dillon) and a nice understated romance between Michael (McCarthy) and Danni (Masterson) that doesn't get in the way of the plot.However most terrifying are the Brothers presence and their interpertation of the catholic religion. If their is a longer director's cut I would definatly like to see it on DVD. This film is certainly well worth a look at.

i rented the un-cut version of this movie. after it says bits of the edited version on comedy central. i watched the movie and liked it. it's a funny movie,and at times very funny. it's also entertaining. kevin dillon is most of the movie's humor. he is always saying funny wisecracks in this movie. all in all a good movie! i give heaven help us *** out of ****

..and I was an altar boy, and went to church every day, and confession..

So watching this the other day brought some of that back to me. There were Brothers in the parish but nuns taught school.

As some other comments have suggested, this movie is unimaginable without Kevin Dillon. He's riotous, from beginning to end. He's given all the good lines and makes the most of them. You barely hear Patrick Dempsey's voice at all.

I was and am not an Andrew McCarthy fan, but he's very tolerable in this. Its the lead but the less showy part. His scenes with Mary Stuart Masterson don't exactly jump off the screen, but they are adequate to the movie.

Movie also gets some points from me for the Elvis references. The guys go to an Elvis movie after seeing the Pope (and get in trouble for it), plus the King is heard over the credits at the end. 8/10.