Sleepers

Day 195 - 7/14/09 - Movie #195

BEFORE: Who knew that there were so many movies in which De Niro played priests? I sure didn't...this is #3.

THE PLOT: After a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized; over 10 years later, they get their chance for revenge.

AFTER: It starts out as sort of a cross between "Stand By Me" and "The Shawshank Redemption", but it's far from being anything like a feel-good pic. And you may never look at Kevin Bacon the same way again, after watching him play a sadistic juvenile-prison guard.

Later in the film, when the boys are adults, I was reminded that Brad Pitt is actually a fine actor, when he wants to be. I can't really say the same for the other 3 members of the group (Jason Patric, Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup) who gave mostly flat performances. But good supporting work from Dustin Hoffman, Terry Kinney, Bruno Kirby, and of course Bobby D.

When two of the grown-up boys meet one of their torturers years later, they exact their revenge in a public place. I don't understand why they didn't use their guns to escort him to a more private location. There's a foreshadowing story the boys were told earlier in the film about a mobster that waits 8 years to get revenge on a man who hurt him, by shooting him in a private bathroom. So the kids learned the moral of the story - but failed in the execution.

So there's a trial, and another of the grown-up boys serves as the prosecuting D.A. (didn't anyone check out his connection to the accused?) It's a neat trick, getting the audience to root for perjury, conspiracy and legal misconduct, assuming you believe that two wrongs do indeed make a right. Do they? You make the call...

RATING: 7 out of 10 hot dogs

DENIR-O-METER: 6, for making the best use of limited screen time, as a tough Hell's Kitchen priest with a heart of gold, who's forced into making a difficult decision.