This Boy's Life
1993
****
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin, Jonah Blechman, Eliza Dushku, Chris Cooper, Carla Gugino, Zack Ansley, Tracey Ellis, Tobey Maguire
In the late 1950s, young Toby and his mother Caroline try to find happiness. She meets a man who lives in Concrete, Washington, who stops being nice as soon as she marries him. This funny and moving coming-of-age story is based on writer Tobias Wolff's 1989 autobiography. Toby is a compelling character, a troubled young man trying to find himself, and he is wonderfully portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in one of his breakthrough roles. Robert De Niro is menacing as his overbearing and abusive stepfather, but the character becomes a frustratingly one-dimensional villain in the second half.
