"The December Boys" is the latest, but not greatest, addition to the overcrowded "coming of age" film genre. The fact that the tale is set in 1960's Australia helps it stand apart, but just barely. The film, adapted from a novel by Michael Noonan, is directed by Rod Hardy and stars Daniel Radcliffe and Lee Cormie (a poor man's Freddie Highmore, aka Charlie from Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory").
The film, which opens at the AMC Loews Dupont Circle tomorrow, follows the experience of four boys as they leave their Catholic orphanage in the Australian outback and go on vacation for the first time. The boys - Misty (Cormie), Maps (Radcliffe), Sparks (Christian Byers) and Spit (James Fraser) - travel to a secluded piece of oceanfront on the Australian coast. There, the boys are placed in the care of two friends of the orphanage.
One night Misty discovers that a local couple is considering adopting one of the boys. A competition ensues, each boy vying for the attention of his would-be parents. Maps, the eldest and most jaded of the bunch, believes he hasn't got a chance of being adopted, so he spends most of his time pursing the local jezebel, Lucy.
The film splits its focus between Maps and the three youngest boys as they learn what it means to grow up. Together, the four discover the true meaning of family.
Much screen time is devoted to Radcliffe's Maps, who has all of the teen angst of Harry Potter with none of the magic. Cormie does a passable job of playing Misty as a sensitive boy with a heart of gold, though his character is not always likeable. The other two boys, Sparks and Spit, barely have identities outside their names and are largely interchangeable.
The film itself is more than a bit self-aggrandizing. It peppers the screen with religious and personal metaphors about life, family and friends. The sound track perpetuates this trend, including several clich?d 1960s tunes that have been heard before in films about learning how to overcome adversity.
There is very little about "December Boys" that suggests its setting. Aside from the clothes and the accents, the film could have taken place in any location with a coastline and a Catholic orphanage.
There remain a couple positive notes: Cinematographer David Connell's camera captures the Australian coastline with several breathtaking vistas, and director Hardy communicates the film's main themes with some consideration, though those themes can be a bit overbearing at times.
Overall, the film isn't terrible, but it is far too schmaltzy for a college audience that has access to superior alternatives.
