I went into watching this film with only a vague notion of what it was going to be about. The description wasn't wrong but didn't begin to convey the depth of this film's plot. Teenager Howie (Paul Dano) has lost his mother in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway. He lives with his father in their very nice home but their relationship is pretty rocky.
Next up, Howie's best friend Gary betrays him by stealing a set of souvenir pistols from a retired military man, "Big John", who also happens to be a pedophile. Howie and Gary planned to run away together to California, but that morning, Howie finds that Gary has ditched him and left on his own - and leaving him in the lurch with Big John. Howie can only find one of the two stolen pistols and the pedo retired military guy wants payback.
It becomes clear that this guy may want some sort of sexual favors from Howie and I would say he starts to groom Howie to win his trust and acceptance, letting him drive his 4-4-2 muscle car even though he's not old enough. Howie seems rather cagey though and doesn't go along with any hints from John. Somehow I got the feeling that Big John's greatest 'pedo' interest was giving oral sex. The subject does come up - in fact, Howie brings it up and doesn't outright refuse.
Howie's other friends upon learning that Gary took off for California start saying things about the two of them having been sex partners, which never happened. They get into a fight, and now Howie has lost his remaining friends.
Howie's dad gets arrested and charged with fraud in some business dealings; the FBI comes and hauls him off to jail. Howie comes home to find that his father has apparently left him and guesses that he ran off with his latest girlfriend, leaving him on his own.
Howie gets picked up again by Big John who takes him home, and we can guess what he has in mind. At home, John tells his current young live-in 'friend' that he needs to get out of the house for a few days. The 'friend' resents Howie because he feels his place is being taken as a 'special boy', and he packs a few things and angrily leaves and drives off. (He's older than Howie.)
John originally thought that Howie might stay with him for just a few days but Howie tells John about losing his mom and all his friends and now his dad. Howie doesn't know his dad has been taken to prison; Big John gently tells him that has happened, and that his dad didn't just abandon him. John tells him it's in all the papers; Howie knows now that his dad won't be coming home any time soon.
Howie breaks down crying; he's lost everyone now. John lends a genuinely sympathetic ear, and Howie hugs him for showing some concern for him. By this point, I think John stops looking at Howie just as a sex toy and instead seems to have developed real feelings of empathy and genuine affection for him. Howie's hug is a response to someone caring about him. The pair seems to be on the way to some kind of more substantial relationship - not just some quick sex.
John takes Howie to the prison to visit his dad and the visit goes reasonably well. While John is parked by the side of the road after dropping Howie off, his prior 'special boy', the disgruntled one he asked to leave for a few days, pulls up in his own car next to John's. Using the one stolen pistol that Howie had managed to retrieve and return, he shoots John, killing him. Howie doesn't know it yet but he's just lost the only person he had left, the one who was helping him pick himself up again. And we can assume he will find out that John was killed by the gun he had returned to him.
To be honest I had to re-watch the beginning and end a couple of times to be fairly sure of the story's conclusion. The film opens with Howie's voice as he talks about the L. I. E. And the people who have died there; he's walking across a railing high over the L. I. E., balancing on one foot - and in closeup we see that the one foot he's still standing on is rather unsteady in its purchase of the railing. Immediately the film cuts to Howie lying on his bed, looking through clippings of his mom's death and he finishes his background narration that "I'm not gonna let the L. I. E. Get me." At the end of the film, Howie is arriving at the same place on the bridge, and again we hear his little mental speech about the L. I. E. I thought possibly that the opening of the movie had previewed for us what the ending would be, of Howie actually teetering and probably falling to his death. But the ending concludes with him saying 'it's not gonna get me.' While it would have been pretty dark and depressing, I almost think the ending would have been better if Howie had resolved his problems in that way, on the bridge. It would have put the opening of the film into the mode of 'I see now where this was heading' when the same scene concludes the film... but he doesn't get on the railing that time. Maybe we're still supposed to gather that the opening WAS the eventual ending. I don't know.
While normally I am not a fan of movies with pedo stuff, this was not the focus of the film and there wasn't any of it shown. It was just a part of the movie that explained the attitude and relationship of one of the main characters.
Next up, Howie's best friend Gary betrays him by stealing a set of souvenir pistols from a retired military man, "Big John", who also happens to be a pedophile. Howie and Gary planned to run away together to California, but that morning, Howie finds that Gary has ditched him and left on his own - and leaving him in the lurch with Big John. Howie can only find one of the two stolen pistols and the pedo retired military guy wants payback.
It becomes clear that this guy may want some sort of sexual favors from Howie and I would say he starts to groom Howie to win his trust and acceptance, letting him drive his 4-4-2 muscle car even though he's not old enough. Howie seems rather cagey though and doesn't go along with any hints from John. Somehow I got the feeling that Big John's greatest 'pedo' interest was giving oral sex. The subject does come up - in fact, Howie brings it up and doesn't outright refuse.
Howie's other friends upon learning that Gary took off for California start saying things about the two of them having been sex partners, which never happened. They get into a fight, and now Howie has lost his remaining friends.
Howie's dad gets arrested and charged with fraud in some business dealings; the FBI comes and hauls him off to jail. Howie comes home to find that his father has apparently left him and guesses that he ran off with his latest girlfriend, leaving him on his own.
Howie gets picked up again by Big John who takes him home, and we can guess what he has in mind. At home, John tells his current young live-in 'friend' that he needs to get out of the house for a few days. The 'friend' resents Howie because he feels his place is being taken as a 'special boy', and he packs a few things and angrily leaves and drives off. (He's older than Howie.)
John originally thought that Howie might stay with him for just a few days but Howie tells John about losing his mom and all his friends and now his dad. Howie doesn't know his dad has been taken to prison; Big John gently tells him that has happened, and that his dad didn't just abandon him. John tells him it's in all the papers; Howie knows now that his dad won't be coming home any time soon.
Howie breaks down crying; he's lost everyone now. John lends a genuinely sympathetic ear, and Howie hugs him for showing some concern for him. By this point, I think John stops looking at Howie just as a sex toy and instead seems to have developed real feelings of empathy and genuine affection for him. Howie's hug is a response to someone caring about him. The pair seems to be on the way to some kind of more substantial relationship - not just some quick sex.
John takes Howie to the prison to visit his dad and the visit goes reasonably well. While John is parked by the side of the road after dropping Howie off, his prior 'special boy', the disgruntled one he asked to leave for a few days, pulls up in his own car next to John's. Using the one stolen pistol that Howie had managed to retrieve and return, he shoots John, killing him. Howie doesn't know it yet but he's just lost the only person he had left, the one who was helping him pick himself up again. And we can assume he will find out that John was killed by the gun he had returned to him.
To be honest I had to re-watch the beginning and end a couple of times to be fairly sure of the story's conclusion. The film opens with Howie's voice as he talks about the L. I. E. And the people who have died there; he's walking across a railing high over the L. I. E., balancing on one foot - and in closeup we see that the one foot he's still standing on is rather unsteady in its purchase of the railing. Immediately the film cuts to Howie lying on his bed, looking through clippings of his mom's death and he finishes his background narration that "I'm not gonna let the L. I. E. Get me." At the end of the film, Howie is arriving at the same place on the bridge, and again we hear his little mental speech about the L. I. E. I thought possibly that the opening of the movie had previewed for us what the ending would be, of Howie actually teetering and probably falling to his death. But the ending concludes with him saying 'it's not gonna get me.' While it would have been pretty dark and depressing, I almost think the ending would have been better if Howie had resolved his problems in that way, on the bridge. It would have put the opening of the film into the mode of 'I see now where this was heading' when the same scene concludes the film... but he doesn't get on the railing that time. Maybe we're still supposed to gather that the opening WAS the eventual ending. I don't know.
While normally I am not a fan of movies with pedo stuff, this was not the focus of the film and there wasn't any of it shown. It was just a part of the movie that explained the attitude and relationship of one of the main characters.