This Boy's Life with Robert De Niro: DVD Cover
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This Boy's Life Director: Michael Caton-Jones Cast: Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Blechman

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  • DVD Release Date: 05/13/2003
  • Original Release: 1993
  • Rating: Rated R
  • Sales Rank: 13,576

Viewer Rating: (3 ratings)

Detailed Rating: "Plot" See All

 
  • Overview
  • Editorial Reviews
  • Scenes
  • Customer Reviews
  • Cast & Crew
  • Full Product Details

Scenes

Features

Closed Caption; Interactive menus; Theatrical trailer; Cast/director/writer film highlights; Scene access; Languages: English & Français (dubbed in Quebec); Subtitles: English, Français & Español

Full Product Details

Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. Toward Heaven. [4:20]
2. High Hopes. [3:04]
3. Roy. [3:45]
4. Dream Dad. [2:39]
5. New Friends. [2:37]
6. Dwight; Mischief. [5:32]
7. Concrete's Virtues. [4:41]
8. Turkey Shoot. [4:24]
9. Thanksgiving Dinner. [2:22]
10. Wrong Kind of Friends. [1:46]
11. "I Hate the Way I Am." [2:03]
12. Whole 'Nother Ballgame. [6:31]
13. Being Better. [2:37]
14. Anybody We Know? [2:12]
15. Married. [4:39]
16. Fighting Words. [3:13]
17. Manly Tales. [2:18]
18. Boxing Lesson. [2:38]
19. "I'm Gonna Make..." [3:07]
20. Aliens. [3:51]
21. "I Will Not Referee!" [2:30]
22. Surprises. [2:47]
23. Driving After Dark. [3:27]
24. Kill or Cure. [2:23]
25. New Friends. [2:02]
26. Caroline's Kennedy Plan. [4:12]
27. Like Dwight. [2:01]
28. SATs and Prep School Dreams. [6:12]
29. Laughing Losers. [2:43]
30. Mi Casa Su Casa. [2:16]
31. The Interview. [3:22]
32. Final Fight. [6:01]
33. Separate Ways With Love. [1:55]
34. Coda and End Credits. [4:09]

Scene Index

Editorial Reviews

A single mother and her difficult son find family life isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be in this drama adapted from writer and professor Tobias Wolff's 1989 memoir of the same name. Nomadic, flaky Caroline (Ellen Barkin) just wants to settle down in one place, find a decent guy, and provide a better home for her handful of a son, Toby (Leonardo DiCaprio). When she moves to Seattle and meets the respectful, respectable Dwight Hansen (Robert DeNiro), she thinks she's got it made. Toby, however, feels differently after spending a few months with Dwight and his children and away from Caroline. The boy's stepfather-to-be seems to want to mold Toby into a better person, but to do so he emotionally, verbally, and physically abuses the kid. The marriage proceeds, and soon Caroline, too, recognizes Dwight's need to dominate everyone around him. She sticks with it, though, convinced it's the best thing for her son, and several years of dysfunction ensue. During this time, Tobias befriends another misfit, the possibly homosexual young Jonah (Arthur Gayle), while continuing to chafe under the yoke of his repressive stepfather. This Boy's Life provided the first lead role for future superstar DiCaprio. The film was written by Robert Getchell, who also penned such mother/son fare as Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and The Client. Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Customer Reviews

  • Viewer Rating:
  • Ratings: 3Reviews: 2

This Boy's Lifeby Anonymous

Reader Rating:
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September 29, 2007: This movie was so great! Robert De Niro is amazing in this! He was made to play this part! This Boy's Life is funny, entertaining, and a five star, two thumbs up movie!

This Boy's Lifeby Anonymous

Reader Rating:
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January 19, 2006: I hate to say it, but I think one mis-cast character in this film really damaged the final product. Ellen Barkin just did not fit the role of the mother, Caroline, at all. The mother character in this film should have been more down to earth. I'm thinking along the lines of Holly Hunter. In this role Barkin just seemed too glamorous for a poor single mom bouncing from places to place in a broken down car during the mid-50's. Were they going for the Donna Reed image here? Also, I think Barkin just brings that B-Movie element to anything that she does. It's really a shame, too, because the other characters are so strong. DeNiro is thoroughly entertaining as usual. Most of his work (both good and bad) is so widely publicized that it was actually nice to find this lesser known work. And then, of course, there is DiCaprio, who is masterful as the young boy. Too bad that in his later career he shifted away from parts like this and Gilbert Grape and started inflicting garbage like Titanic and The Aviator upon us. Oh well. This one is worth the watch if you can stomach Barkin.