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Title: December Boys
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I’m going to start off my review by saying that “December Boys” could have been a better movie if not for two fairly big problems the movie has. The first problem is that I don’t like the characters in “December Boys.” The movie revolves around four orphanage boys nick-named Map, Misty, Spark, and Spit. How they got their nicknames I’ll leave for you to discover yourself. These boys are known as the December Boys at the orphanage because they were all born in December (or at the very least were discover in December). The catholic orphanage they attend is blessed with a Christmas bonus, and being that they like to pass blessings along, send the boys off to a beach to stay with an old couple for Christmas. The boys arrive at the beach where they will discover love, the meaning of true family, and all that other stuff that makes a good tear jerker of a movie.
I guess the problem then is that the movie fails to provoke many tears, and indeed is a stumbling mess for a good portion of the movie. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The movie is narrated by Misty (Lee Cormie), who overhears the neighbors discussing the possibility of adopting one of the four boys by the end of Christmas. Misty has always wanted a family, and wants one so badly that he opts not to tell the other boys about what he’s heard, seeing as how nothing turns orphans against each other like the prospect of a potential adoption. The leader of the group though is Maps, who has been mistaken by the movies summery and trailers as being the main character, when he’s really only a supporting character until the last quarter of the film. As the boy who’s close to turning eighteen, Maps doesn’t want to be adopted.
He figures that since he’s never had a family he’ll never need one. He thinks the other boys feel the same way, but as he will learn, everyone else is in a different boat than him. In the area of the story I’ll give a one for originality and a two for execution. I’ve seen other orphan movies before, and most of them are better. Most of the other orphan movies I see are more family friendly as well, which makes sense since kids identify with these movies more then adults tend to. This is not the second problem I have with the movie though. There are movies about orphans that are made for adults, some that are very good, this just isn’t one that’s likely to stir much emotion from an adult who knows the rules of the world better. No, the second problem may actually be in the casting of Daniel Radcliffe as Maps, in his first post Harry Potter role.
In “December Boys” Radcliffe is both the strongest and weakest link in the movie. Coming straight off from Harry Potter, anything Radcliffe decided to make was most likely to be heavily scrutinized. In “December Boys” Radcliffe gets to smoke, curse, moon people, and have sex. Yes, Harry Potter is in a sex scene. For that one fact alone this movie will most likely always be known as the movie where Harry Potter gets laid. I hate to pull Harry Potter into the review, but the sad reality of the situation is that Radcliffe will be identified with the famous boy wizard for many years. Still, if you want to break out of a stereotypical image, best to just break out of it early when you can get away with it then later when doing so could be career suicide. The flaw in Radcliffe’s casting is that the movie has him doing the most offensive things for the first hour of the film.
Only during the second half of the film does Maps become a fully developed character, and really the only character you really get to know at the end of the day. It’s work that’s worthy of a Best Supporting Actor nomination, but the fact that he’s still known as Harry Potter is so distracting. You spend much of the first filming going “look, Harry’s smoking,” or “Harry’s cursing,” and “Harry’s getting laid.” Maybe this won’t be a problem the next time around, but for now I think the antics get in the way of the story. It’s also saying something that Radcliffe’s presence guarantees a movie distribution deal but not a marketing budget.
Guess that will have to wait for next time. “December Boys” is in a strange situation of feeling like it wants to be an inspiration coming of age tale, while at the same time being a big distraction by making many of the characters obnoxious and unpleasant. I’m not going to blame the problems on this movie squarely on Radcliffe (seeing as how he saves the film after he’s destroyed it a bit), but I think I may have liked the movie more if he’d not been in it. Then again, I could live without the spit jokes as well. And while we’re at it, I’d trade in my experience with this movie for the chance of getting a date with Julia Roberts. Funny, I think that last jokes stands out in this review like Daniel Radcliffe does in this movie.
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -
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