That's What I Am

Great performances by Ed Harris and entire cast that she'd light on bullying and growing up as a kid..Molly Parker really stole our hearts throughout the engaging and warm movie. And McG with his akwardness and charismatic ways had us on his side the entire film. Truly a well made film by WWE and they should make more films like this as opposed to their lesser Genre's. Remarkably made and great ending .Overall this motion picture had a very thought provoking message. I especially like the ending credits of where they are all now and by the way the Swedish Supermodel Yvette is the Famous model Yvette Rachelle. I highly recommend this movie for all ages as it has a great lesson to be learned by folks of all ages.

What the heck just happened? The WWE logo comes on, and a serious drama comes on. Is this a new effort to broaden out the WWE brand? This is a coming-of-age story of 12 year old Andy Nichol (Chase Ellison) in 1965. He's a normal kid who's trying to survive school when Mr. Simon (Ed Harris) forces Andy with the school's biggest outcast the quiet giant red head Stanley (Alexander Walters).

Writer/Director Michael Pavone must have binge watched "The Wonder Years". This was filled with all the clichés, all the bully, all the first love drama, and even has the iconic older-self narration. Everything is jammed in there that it felt much more derivative than it needed to be. However to say something is derived from an icon like "The Wonder Years" isn't necessarily a bad thing.

This is a type of a movie where you don't realize how great it is until the ending scene. No matter how movies like this one ends you'll end up crying(or not) because you feel as if you actually were with them trough all that happened. It doesn't matter if the movie has a happy or sad ending, you'll just be touched with the ending anyway!

It shows a classic example of American schools in the 1950s. We follow the story of the school boy Andy who's assigned to write a report with the biggest victim of bullying in school. Believing that he'll just have to finish the report and then be done with even talking to the loser, he ends up learning a lesson of a lifetime.

The movie is about finding out who you are and accepting who others are. It's about school, friendship and falling in love at a young age.

Human Dignity + Compassion = PEACE. That's Mr. Simon's (Ed Harris) award-winning four-word solution to world peace. Unfortunately, children are cruel, and there isn't even peace in his 1965 junior high classroom. "That's What I Am" is narrated by an adult Andy Nichol, who, as an awkward 13 year-old is popular enough that he gets bypassed by the bullies but he wouldn't want to jeopardize that by socializing with the outcasts. This is just a coming-of-age story, but it's personal, based on a true story, and completely realistic that the lessons are meaningful, not corny. This isn't just about teenagers struggling with the awkward phases of life, or about playing up bullying for laughs, there are serious undertones to the maliciousness of kids. And it's all too real. Mr. Simon is the best teacher in the state of California (and there are awards to prove it). He does what he can to bring peace to the world. He pairs up Andy with Big G, the tall, skinny red-head who gets tormented each day. Big G, however, doesn't let that get to him. That doesn't deter the bullies, but Big G has an inner strength that allows him to stay true to himself. Andy is inspired by that. And so am I. It tries to teach tolerance and being true to one's self, but does so through a beautifully-told, coming-of-age story that is more adult in nature than juvenile. The events that occurred were real, and had serious implications to the well-being of society. It has taken society a lot longer to be tolerant than we would like; "That's What I Am" doesn't trivialize it but focuses on the personal, positive resolutions that the good characters come to. It's real, but we also get to see the Andys of the world get the girl. I like that kind of world.

"That's What I am" is a wonderful film that had a VERY limited run and died at the box office. It's very sad, as the film really was very touching and enjoyable....and it nearly earned a 9 from me.

Andy (Chase Ellison) is an 8th grader back in 1965 and like nearly all his classmates, they love their English teacher, Mr. Simon (Ed Harris). He's a very decent and compassionate man...and tries very hard to instill these values in his students. One of these actions is pairing up Andy with 'Big G' (Alexander Walters)...a very awkward and huge kid who only has a few friends. While Andy isn't Mr. Popularity or a tough kid, he likes being average and accepted...and he's worried that being paired with Big G will somehow destroy him image. The film is about this, some ugly rumors about Mr. Simon, and about being decent to each other.

There is a lot to this story, though it all boils down to this decency....kids learning to treat each other well and accepting the diversity in those around them. It does NOT come off as ultra-PC or preachy...just a lovely story with really nice acting. In many ways, it's like a drama merged with the TV show "The Wonder Years"...but with much more depth. Well worth seeing and, as usual, Harris is simply amazing.