Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

L.I.E. (2001) Directed by Michael Cuesto

"On the Long Island Expressway there are lanes going east, lanes going west, and lanes going straight to hell."

From the opening scene, where we see Howie (Paul Dano) walking the railing of an overpass, we know our hero is a kid on the edge.  The edge of maturity, edge of society, the edge of falling in with the wrong crowd in a big way; take your pick.  This is a kid on the margins.  Howie lives a privileged life in the suburbs.  His mom died on the L.I.E. but his dad (Bruce Altman) makes good money as a contractor, buys him things, and has a new girlfriend.  Quality time, you get the feeling, not so much.

Howie is best friends with Gary (Billy Kay).  He is beginning to suspect he may be more than friends with Gary, and Gary walks a fine line of possibly flirting with him and just kidding around.  Howie, Gary, and their other friends Brian and Kevin (Tony Donnelly and James Costa) supplement their allowances by breaking and entering houses in the neighborhood, grabbing cash and valuables, and running.

As Howie becomes more involved with Gary, he notices less and less as his father's life comes unraveled in the wake of a fire in one of his projects.  Gary gets Howie to help him with a boost, and that is how Howie first meets Big Jim Harrigan (Brian Cox).  While trying to catch them, Big Jim manages to tear off one of Howie's back pockets.  Like Cinderella and the glass slipper, it all leads back home again.  Big Jim and Gary know each other, professionally.  As in the oldest profession.  And now Big Jim has a hook in a new fish; Howie robbed his home; he can blackmail him, or he can befriend him by not blackmailing him.  So how to best land him?

What unfolds is a surprising drama, largely because they let the two leads, Howie and Big Jim, just be themselves, and not deliver any sort of message.  Howie is not the poster child for early intervention.  Big Jim is neither a slavering rapist of little boys, nor the misunderstood hero apologizing or condoning pedophilia.  (Hebephilia, actually, but why split pubic hairs?)  Instead they dance a weird sort of dance, the predator circling warily a prey that is contemplating the merits of getting eaten.  What Gary really lacks is a parental figure, and Big Jim is that, fatherly, even grandfatherly.  If it weren't for the whole perverted predator thing.

Nor is Howie an innocent babe in the woods, he is aware, and elusive, and feels, with the invincible knowledge of youth, that he has a handle on the situation.  Of course, he doesn't but then again, Big Jim is equally confounded to discover that while he may be a monster, he is not a b*stard.

Before the villagers break out the pitchforks and torches, I want to point out that this drama only depicts sex once, and it is heterosexual, age appropriate, and the sort of thing that can scar a kid for life.  Brad Altman really put himself into the role.  It does not actually depict a single homosexual act, or an underage one.

That is all fine and good, but like a horror movie that only hints at the monster, this one can use mere suggestion to unsettling effect.  It is not an easy movie to watch.

The ending is odd, and has a disjointed feel.  I suspect there was another ending, one that they decided not to use, and thus this one was chosen instead.  What that outcome could have been, the mind has too much material to work with, in this case.  Still, the one they chose feels artificial and forced.

Is this a coming of age story?  Probably.  A tale of redemption?  Only to a point.  A celebration of Man Boy love?  Decidedly not.  A condemnation of pedophiles and perverts?  Not really.  It is a tale of two men, of vastly different ages, and the effect they had each upon the other.  It is nothing more, and nothing less.


This is entered into Captain D's Good Movie Write Off.

Gay Movies:

La Mission***Burnt Money***8: The Mormon Propo$ition***In The Flesh***The Sensei***The 24th Day***Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon***ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction***East Side Story***Dorian Blues***Creatures From the Pink Lagoon***Satyricon***Ice Men***Richard O'Briens Rocky Horror Tribute Show***Prom Queen***The Kids are All Right***Between Love and Goodbye***The Mudge Boy***That Man: Peter Berlin***A Single Man***Almost Normal***Outing Riley***Outrage!***Law of Desire***Love is the Devil***Cowboy Junction***Horror in the Wind***Bedrooms and Hallways***Cut Sleeve Boys***Big Eden***For A Lost Soldier***Midnight Cowboy***Redwoods***The Massuer***Boy Culture***Breakfast With Scot***The Fluffer***Flesh***Little Ashes***L.I.E. ***Dorian Gray***9 Dead Gay Guys***Shank***I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry***Beautiful Boxer***Bangkok Love Story***Schoolboy Crush***Shelter***Back Soon***Dog Tags***Theft***The Mulligans***The Velvet Goldmine***Swashbuckler***Smoke Signals
***C'Thulhu***Milk***The Picture of Dorian Gray***Brideshead Revisited***Notes on a Scandal***RocknRolla***Mamma Mia!
***Priscillia: Queen of the Desert***The History Boys***Brokeback Mountain***The Broken Hearts Club*** Yaji and Kita: Midnight Pilgrims ***Surge of Power ***In & Out ***Mambo Italiano ***Touch of Pink ***To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar ***Wolves of Kromer ***Rocky Horror Picture Show ***Taboo ***Deathtrap 


Gay Themed Series:

Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Dante's Cove
Hex
Carnivale Season One
Carnivale Season Two
Rome Season One
Rome Season Two
True Blood
True Blood: Season Two
The Book of Daniel: The Complete Series
Torchwood: Children of Earth
Torchwood: Season One


Gay Animation:

Pirate's Booty***Sensitive Pornograph***Loveless: The Complete Series***Loveless: Hope on the Run***Loveless: Soul of Chains***Loveless: Lost and Found***Embracing Love: A Cicada in Winter***Embracing Love: Cherished Spring ***Stonewall & Riot***Drawn Together Movie: The Movie***Drawn Together: Season 2***Drawn Together: Season 3

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age