Reviewing Movies

That this teenage romance, young love, disease of the week flick rises above the genre is credit to its young stars. Josh Hartnett and Chris Klein square off like two young banty roosters fighting over a pullet. Chris Klein has been described as a thinking man's jock. Josh Hartnett is one of those character actors who inhabits a part to the point that he leaves one saying, oh that's who that was. The girl they lock horns over just happens to be the local sheriff's daughter. Annette O'Toole plays her mother having come a long way since Beach Blanket Bingo, she later plays Superman's mother in Smallville. Michael Rooker, Cruise's competition in Days of Thunder plays Hartnett's father though it is interaction with his mother that assumes more importance in his life. The reconstruction project at the centre of the movie seems to be a community event. This is another one of those townie vs rich spoiled private boy's school stories. The point is driven home repeatedly that Richie Rich's father treats his son just like another one of his investments whereas the local yokel has loving parents who are involved in their son's life. Thrown in as best bud is a muscular bleached blonde whose parents obviously own the local general store.