A rather conventional and average family drama, where DiCaprio and Depp's performances turn out to be the only truly worthy note.
Sometimes, what makes a film remarkable is the extraordinary performance of an actor, and that becomes even more admirable when that actor is extremely young. That's what we have in this film, a conventional family drama, where a young adult tries to live his life as normally as possible while having to take care of everyone around him, particularly his mother, who is morbidly obese and depressed, and his younger brother, who has a mental problem that the movie never really specifies.
In fact, I didn't find the script particularly interesting. Cinema is full of family dramas, and this one has nothing really new or fresh to add. And if the script doesn't seem remarkable to me, the production values and technical aspects deserve even less attention, with the film betting on very conventional and average visuals, and a pace that sometimes slows down and falters, the result of an editing not always well executed.
What makes the film more interesting is the cast, which includes two young actors, then very promising, called Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. Depp is older than DiCaprio, and his career was relatively established when he agreed to star in this film. DiCaprio, on the other hand, was still an unknown young man and was beginning to emerge. However, the collaboration between them, in this film, is remarkable, and it seems that both knew how to get the best out of each other, to our benefit.
Although today we know Depp through a wide range of peculiar characters, what he did in this film is the complete opposite, and his character is one hundred percent ordinary, responsible, mature and strong. DiCaprio, however, stands out the most, even more than Depp. Playing a mentally disturbed teenager, DiCaprio had a lot of leeway to study and design the character and his mannerisms and tics. The result is truly credible and surprising.
Mary Steenburgen and Darlene Cates provide very effective support and give us the best female performances. In absolute counterpoint, Juliette Lewis doesn't have much to do, while Laura Harrington and Mary Kate Schellhardt practically disappear when they're on the scene.
