The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

A Catholic school in America at the start of the seventies. Francis and his friends are altar boys who hate the order of the place and make a comic book in their spare time. In it they are superheroes and Sister Nora, the nun at the school, is a one legged villain. One day they plan a prank in real life; it grows, and goes somewhere nobody can undo. Peter Care directs. The source is Chris Fuhrman's novel; the author died before it was published. The cast includes Emile Hirsch, Kieran Culkin, Jena Malone, Vincent D'Onofrio and Jodie Foster as Sister Assumpta; Foster is also among the producers. What distinguishes it are the animated sections. The comic the boys draw comes alive on screen, made by Todd McFarlane's studio, the artist known for Spawn. The idea is that imagination and reality cannot be separated. The violence in the comic is a game; the plan in life is built on the same logic and does not turn out to be one. Sister Nora is outside the type. She looks hard and unpleasant, and the film gives her a scene showing that how the boys see her is incomplete. It failed commercially and found a cult audience later. Who it is for: viewers who like youth drama and narratives mixed with animation. Who it is not for: the tone is uneven, the ending is abrupt, and some characters are not given enough room.