Stealing Cars

This is a hard nut to chew when not knowing if its rotten or good. its about juvenile dilligents in a correction camp somewhere in usa. its all from murder,rape to petty crimes, mingled up in a one fence ,one barb wire one gate joint, that seems rather easy to bail out from. the main of the story, are an unfortunate boy that once did a great mistake when driving a car, and as an act of redemtion to himself he starts to steal cars to runaway from his wrong doings. unfortunately his ad/hd demeanors and vocal talents ,gives him more bash of thrash to his record.

productionwise i feel the story shows signs of incoherence, the cams are at times too close up, and the editing seems on overdrive. this is maybe, that its a cliche thing, that weve all seen before in other settings and other actors. the acting are good enough, how it reflects the true world,i shall not say.

youll need patience and maybe see it through a couple of times to really enjoy, just recommendable the grumpy old man says.

The twist and the action in the last ten or fifteen minutes give a taste of how truly memorable this film could have been, but the eighty minutes of set-up show how lazy and delusional filmmakers can be. There is an overt reference to A Bronx Tale but far too much harking back to The Breakfast Club and similar, with unlikeable characters in unrealistic situations. Billy would never have got away with the rambling smart-arse speechmaking on show here, but would have been told to sit down and STFU (at best) or, more likely, punched in the mouth.

The distinction between the gangs is underplayed unless it is critical to a plot point, at which time it feels forced. The kindly sheriff, damaged nurse and bullying guard stereotypes rely on one actor in each role, and we are expected to believe they work almost around the clock and with no support. There is no suggestion that education extends beyond reading one book, sport involves more than knocking one character to the ground repeatedly, or rehabilitation extends beyond polishing the boss's car. The annual building project is as believable as finding Elvis on the moon.

Most of the film is made up of red herrings and blind alleys, with very occasional flashbacks that confuse rather than illuminate. Even after seeing the twist I am not convinced I fully understood what they were trying to say but by that stage I was making up my own story.

The end is forced melodrama but need not have been. There was a great film here struggling to get out.

"Tomorrow doesn't have to be yesterday." Billy Wyatt (Cohen) is rebelling against everything. When he finally gets caught and arrested he takes his attitude with him. Little by little he finds out his attitude has to change. With the help of warden De La Cruz (Leguizamo) Billy begins to realize why and how to change. This is a movie that was a total surprise. It started off OK but the more I watched the more I enjoyed it, and by the end it became a movie that I want to tell everyone to watch. The acting is great and the movie just feels real. The movie is emotional and moving without really trying to be and really punches you in the gut with the ending, in a good way. There really isn't a whole lot I can talk about without giving something away because it really builds on the emotion throughout and the pay off is more than worth it. All I will say is that this is what movies should be and I highly recommend. Overall, one of the reasons why I say the big budget movies are not as good as the independent ones. This should get more of an audience than it will. I give this an A.

After a promising first half, the second half felt like the writer and/or director quit and was replaced by someone who filled the movie with clichés in what amounted to a mess filled with continuity issues.

Emory Cohen was great and carried this movie. I watched this movie for him and he did not disappoint.

The cop's actions in the final act? C'mon man.....

Some sluggish direction and pacing rob Stealing Cars of being a really great film about juvenile crime and incarceration. Stealing Cars is in a tradition of films like this that go back to James Cagney's Mayor In Hell.

Emory Cohen is our brilliant protagonist in the sense of one high IQ. Yet he's in the Bernwood Correctional Facility for a tragic mistake that has made him forgot to care about anything. His role model seems to be Paul Newman from Cool Hand Luke.

Besides Cohen the acting honors go to John Leguizamo as the warden of the place. Is scene with Cohen where Cohen finally breaks down and we learn the reason for his cynicism is brilliant. But we also learn that Leguizamo has his own agenda and it's not a healthy one.

I'm agreeing with another reviewer that the characters besides these two have no real depth as written and no great direction to make them come to life. Still Stealings Cars is a worthwhile film to watch.