Dito (Robert Downey Jr.) fled his old neighbourhood to go and live in California. When he’s called by his mother who tells him that his father is very ill and needs help to get to the hospital he has to make a difficult decision about wanting to return to the thing he turned his back on, his old neighbourhood.
The movie uses flashbacks to show what happened in his youth. His younger self is played by Shia LaBeouf, a boy who lives in a poor neighbourhood and hangs out with his friends, getting into trouble and chasing girls. After some time the trouble they are making is becoming very serious and the relationship between the friends is under pressure because of it. With so much pressure something is about to explode.
The biggest part of the movie is made up of flashbacks and the amount of footage set in the present day is limited. The movie shows what happened after Dito left and what is left of his relationships with his old friends.
The movie is star-studded, besides Robert Downey Jr and Shia LaBoeuf other actors are Rosario Dawson, Chazz Palminteri (if you see him you’ll immediately recognise him), Channing Tatum and Dianne Wiest who all deliver a fine performance. The story is interesting, but I just couldn’t manage to stay interested, even though there are enough things happening to the kids. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for this type of movie, but if you like “coming of age” stories, then you could give this movie a chance.
Score: 6