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Ithaca is a workmanlike but not brilliant coming of age movie set in small town America in 1942. Homer Macaulay (Alex Neustaedter) is an idealistic 14 year old boy with all the exuberance, aspirations and anxieties of early adolescence. The middle son of a family suffering from the recent bereavement of their father (Tom Hanks) and the departure of 19 year old brother Marcus (Jack Quaid) off fighting in the Army, Homer takes a job as a telegram messenger to augment the family's income. The boss Willie Grogan (Sam Shepherd) is a past retirement drunk from a previous era of Morse code operators soon to be replaced by teletype receivers who turns a blind eye to Homer being 2 years under the 16 year old minimum and judges his young protege to be the best messenger he's ever seen as Homer throws his youthful energy into the job. However Homer gets a crash course in the brutal adult world as he is required to deliver War Department telegrams to the parents of servicemen killed or missing in action or venturing into the messy adult world of drunkenness and prostitution. Homer soon loses his innocent idealism and agonizes over the ills of a darkened real world.

The movie covers this transition well and also puts a human, family face to the devastating impact of war even one not waged physically on US soil. 16 year old Alex Neustaedter puts in a very solid performance as a carefree boy suddenly thrust onto a fast track to manhood but the movie does meander at times and could've benefitted from a more taut and focused plot line.