The movie is effective, well-acted and convincing. And that was a surprise for me, since a look at the cast (Dermot Mulroney, Sean Astin, Lara Flynn Boyle, Balthazar Getty and Ricki Lake among them) led me, walking into the theater, to anticipate some sort of Junior Brat Pack caper. Maybe the director, Marc Rocco, is good with actors. Or maybe these actors haven't had this kind of strong material to work with before.
Mulroney carries the movie, as the King, leader of a group of runaways who live in a hollowedout cave under the Hollywood Freeway and support themselves by begging, stealing and prostitution.
He is not what could be described as a good influence on the kids who join up with him, but he is a steadying presence, and feels genuine responsibility for his "family." Just as they band together for security, he perhaps feels a need to exercise responsibility, to look out for those who are obviously not able to survive by themselves.
Many of the other characters are sharply drawn, including Greg, played by Astin, who is powerless over drugs and places himself in one desperate situation after another, finally popping his last balloon in a pathetic exit scene. Getty is very effective in a scene where he tries to be a male prostitute but hates himself for it. And Boyle is good in the somewhat stereotyped role of the pretty newcomer to the group.
The screenplay, by Michael Hitchcock, Kurt Voss and Rocco, contains a lot of documentary information about where runaways hang out, why they hate the police, and how they survive in a system that seems set up specifically to crush them. It is not a poetic or pseudo-romantic view of runaway life (which seems like a hell interrupted by occasional laughs), but on the other hand it isn't hysterical, either. It shows how young people need families and will form their own if they are failed by those they were born into.
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