The amazing brotherly resemblance between JOAQUIN PHOENIX and BILLY CRUDUP is a drawback to casual viewers of the film because they look so much alike, especially in the early scenes, that it's easy to lose track of the storyline when you can't tell which brother is on the screen at key moments.
KATHY BAKER is the mother raising two sons in a small American town during the 1950s and she gives a genuinely real performance even though her role is underwritten with not enough character exposition to let us know her well enough. But that's not too much of a deficit since the story revolves almost completely around the relationship--the coming of age--of two brothers in conflict with each other over everything, including girls.
As the younger, more sensitive and less worldly brother, JOAQUIN PHOENIX is amazingly well cast as he deals with each crisis involving a wealthy family, the Abbots, and their daughters, all of whom are victims of a lie concerning his mother's relationship with Mr. Abbot. BILLY CRUDUP is equally effective as his look alike brother who has his own way of settling scores until he decides he must leave the small town behind and make his own way in the world.
The '50s era is well realized, although the coarseness of some of the dialog is not always appropriate for that era when cuss words weren't tossed around as liberally as they are today.
Summing up: Slowly paced, but holds the interest because of the central relationships and the fact that you care about what happens to these people.
KATHY BAKER is the mother raising two sons in a small American town during the 1950s and she gives a genuinely real performance even though her role is underwritten with not enough character exposition to let us know her well enough. But that's not too much of a deficit since the story revolves almost completely around the relationship--the coming of age--of two brothers in conflict with each other over everything, including girls.
As the younger, more sensitive and less worldly brother, JOAQUIN PHOENIX is amazingly well cast as he deals with each crisis involving a wealthy family, the Abbots, and their daughters, all of whom are victims of a lie concerning his mother's relationship with Mr. Abbot. BILLY CRUDUP is equally effective as his look alike brother who has his own way of settling scores until he decides he must leave the small town behind and make his own way in the world.
The '50s era is well realized, although the coarseness of some of the dialog is not always appropriate for that era when cuss words weren't tossed around as liberally as they are today.
Summing up: Slowly paced, but holds the interest because of the central relationships and the fact that you care about what happens to these people.