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> Project Greenlight's Stolen Summer: Movie |
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see larger picture
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Staring:
Amara Balthrop-Lewis,
Kevin Pollak,
Aidan Quinn,
Bonnie Hunt,
Eddie Kaye Thomas
Director:
Pete Jones
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: $14.99
Our Price: $4.95
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
EAN: 0786936181043
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Label: Miramax
Manufacturer: Miramax
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Miramax
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2002-09-24
Running Time: 91
Studio: Miramax
Theatrical Release Date: 2002 |
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Description
Here's the big screen motion picture that fan's of HBO's hit series PROJECT GREENLIGHT eagerly waited to see! From producers Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Chris Moore, STOLEN SUMMER is the touching story of a young Catholic boy, Peter O'Malley, who's on a quest to help a dying Jewish friend, Danny Jacobsen, get into heaven. On an unforgettable adventure marked by conflict and discovery, Pete and Danny will together learn the true meaning of hope and friendship! With Aidan Quinn (LEGENDS OF THE FALL) and Kevin Pollak (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) portraying the families' patriarchs, this critically acclaimed feature also stars Brian Dennehy (TOMMY BOY), Bonnie Hunt (THE GREEN MILE), and Eddie Kaye Thomas (AMERICAN PIE 1 & 2) in an outstanding all-star cast!
Amazon.com
It's a great relief--and not just to the filmmakers--that Stolen Summer turned out so well. As winner of the first Project Greenlight contest, aspiring filmmaker Pete Jones was plucked from obscurity to direct his winning screenplay for this touching drama, in which young Catholic Pete O'Malley (Adi Stein) learns that there's more than one route to Heaven. During summer vacation 1976, this earnest second-grader learns from his fireman father (Aidan Quinn) that "Jews can't get into [Catholic] Heaven," and decides to earn his heavenly passage by attempting to convert the young son (Mike Weinberg) of a local rabbi (Kevin Pollak). Interfaith friendships develop, and the situation yields heartfelt humor in Jones's compassionate, tolerantly sentimental screenplay. Quinn, Pollak, and Bonnie Hunt (as Pete's mom) are exceptional in well-drawn roles, and for all his first-time jitters and penchant for pathos, Jones earns the opportunity that talent and good luck gave him: Stolen Summer is the kind of sweetly humanitarian film that Hollywood could use more of. --Jeff Shannon
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Stolen Summer, 2010-07-14
WONDERFUL movie with sorrow, forgiveness and kindness-but most of all tolerance!! All children should see this!!!!
I don't know where to start, 2010-07-06
I really enjoyed this movie for the first half. Sappy? Yes, predictable, yes, but the kids were so darn cute, even if not great actors, and I found the premise of the movie charming and very believable. Growing up in a large Irish-Catholic family, it was fun to watch the dynamics and chaos. The adult dialogue was great. I laughed out loud at a few parts (especially the mother cussing at her son for cussing. Priceless!). Then it all started to grate on me: the stereotypical overdrinking, bigoted, angry Irishman. The whole raft of adults who didn't have a decent answer to a child's sincere questions. But what really ruined it for me was the totally bizarre twist at the end. I'm not naive, I don't expect a decent doctrinal approach in a movie made for the general public. But this was the worst trash I've ever seen. Jesus as a symbol? A rabbi agreeing that calling God by his dead son's name is a good idea?? I expect the kids to have bizarre religious ideas. They're kids, after all. But no eight year old would come up with the rubbish the writer(s) gave this character. The religious views sold to us at the end of this movie were probably meant to leave the viewers feeling good, and safe, and confident. I was just appalled and insulted.
Stolen Summer Review, 2010-07-23
Delightful interaction between Pete and the Rabbi, themes good to spark discussion (parenting/discipline, friendships with people of different faiths, death of a loved one/child, interfaith sharing), a very enjoyable movie that I just happened to find.
Sometimes I just want to unscrew him and let him down, 2010-05-18
As a native Chicagoan, from a Sephardic Jewish background and Catholic upbringing, I couldn't have settled on a lovelier film than STOLEN SUMMER. It brought back all sorts of memories, and even though the only location that brought memories were under the el and the lakeside, it still brought warm feelings to my heart.
This is the story of the innocence and sweetness of faith: uncomplicated, full of decent, honest queries and hope beyond what any of us can remember from childhood. This movie just proves to old farts like me: it's never too late to have a happy childhood.
2nd-grader Pete O'Malley (a wonderful Adi Stein) decides he should go on a quest: find a Jew to "convert", in order to help that person get into heaven. This may seem contrived, and even anti-Semitic. It is not. It is strictly through the eyes of children, and it has lessons to teach.
Pete meanders his way to the neighborhood synagogue (I doubted this was a real synagogue and I've never seen it before), hoping to snag a wayward Jew there. He meets the kind, warmhearted Rabbi Jacobsen (a fantastic turn by the too-little-seen Kevin Pollack). A proposal: would the rabbi let Pete set up a lemonade stand, where he could offer free lemonade...and a trip to heaven? The rabbi is more than indulgent and admires Pete's conviction.
One day a raging fire turns to an explosion. Pete and his brother follow the sirens, and they find themselves at the rabbi's house which is in flames. The rabbi's little son Danny (Mike Weinberg) is trapped inside. Pete's father (the ever-more-stunning Aidan Quinn) is the fireman who saves the boy's life. The rabbi is deeply grateful, though this film does not wallow in maudlin falsehoods.
Pete and Danny become fast friends, with Pete proposing a 'decathlon' for Danny to win--if he does, Pete reasons, he must be worthy of getting into heaven. Somehow Pete has picked up the distressing idea that only Catholics get to heaven through Jesus. He figures a decathlon-winner, urged on by a person on a quest, has got to be a sure-fire winner! The only trouble is that Danny has leukemia, and seems not destined to live long.
The unfolding of this wonderful story is unbelievably deep and touching. 1st-time writer/director Pete Jones was lucky his opus one did so well. Few directors this green are this successful. The topic is difficult, and Jones might have copied three dozen movies, but he doesn't copy a single one. The humor is superb without that attempt at ill-fitting slapstick or blackness. The kids are the funniest characters, next to Bonnie Hunt (Mrs. O'Malley).
What the children have to teach the adults around them is too good for me to cross-section it for you. After all, this could have been a battle of the Jews vs. the Christians, but instead it's a home-run. Get this amazing film, learn about Project Greenlight, of which Jones is the first winner, thank Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for not being as useless as we always think they are.
After all, they gave us this fantastic, instant classic film that will never lose its message of hope, innocence and faith in the face of intolerance, bigotry and racism.
By the way, usual tag critique: what the heck is "gay" doing down there? Honestly, some people!
STOLEN SUMMER, 2008-12-28
GREAT MOVIE WHICH DEMONSTRATES THE INNOCENCE ASSOCIATED WITH YOUTH AND HOW AT TIMES ADULTS MAKE SIMPLE THINGS SO COMPLEX; IN THIS CASE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN A YOUNG CATHOLIC BOY WITH A DYING JEWISH BOY.
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