Jamesy Boy

This movie might not be for everyone, when I read some of the reviews I can understand your point of view when remembering it in hindsight but I must tell you I was unable to notice any of the small mistakes while I was watching. Maybe because I've been in the same situation at the same age, made all the same mistakes with the feeling of it being right at the time, like you had no other choice. If you lived the life of a child believing it was full-grown surrounded by vicious criminals whose "standards and morals" you thought was real and you believed it like this kid did and had to go trough it the hard way to finally realize, or if you can relate to that, then this movie might be for you. Not because it will make you feel good or not because it is portrayed in a way that makes "thug life" seem cool like these movies I grew up with and became classics. In a way that made me feel as the main character went through life making decisions, I could understand and relate to his choices, it wasn't always spelled out why he took upon himself to do some of the things he did. His standards and morals, he stood up for them even though it is a rare thing in that world, a very rare thing I must say knowing what I speak of. And when he was old enough to realize that he had to pay the price knowing he was trying to hold up this "standard and moral" that does not even exist in that world and the one who payed the price was him. I liked this film and the main character, it made me feel through the whole movie as the decisions was made and I reminisced on my own life from an adults point of view gone through hell and back. Best luck to you James, best luck.

I give this movie a 9 out of 10 because this movie delivers!! Well at least for me it did! It kept me on the edge of my seat, not literally but it kept me guessing. Jamesy Boy in my opinion is considered to be a "real movie" involving sex, drugs, and money, it goes to the streets, and shows you what the life of drug dealers is, not only does it show you but this movie isn't biased. It has the good and the bad about the drug deals. The money, it shows how you can make a lot of movie but also lose it because "dirty money" isn't good money but as they say not all "dirty money" is bad. Then you have the sex which in this case the sex is just sex to these people, but at certain points its not just about the sex it's about love "making love" and all three of these things in one movie makes the movie much more interesting because, unlike all Hollywood movies, this movie shows the good and bad not just the good.

Spencer Lofranco, a good-looking kid bearing an uncanny resemblance to a young Matt Damon, is 14-yr-old James. We learn that he had been in various troubles since he was 6 yrs old, and now at 14 he seemed to have only one chance left. But discouraged he cut his ankle monitor, leaves mom and little sister, and went off to work for a small time drug dealer. He gets the nickname 'Jamesy Boy'. The movie is edited in a particular way. It cuts between James in his somewhat short career in the drug business, and James in prison with hardened prisoners. Once I figured out the editing it worked well, probably batter than if it had been a time-linear edit. So the big question becomes, will James just end up as another statistic, a criminal kept alive by the state? Or will be gain some insight and set out to improve his life? The telling influence was hardened murderer Ving Rhames as Conrad, who was respected by all the others and basically left alone. Somehow he and James began to interact and it was this spark that enabled James to figure out a few things and make use of his parole after 4 years. This is based on a true story, a photo of the real James is shown, at the time 25, had moved to New York and was in the process of getting his life straightened out. Mary-Louise Parker is good as his mother Tracy. Taissa Farmiga, still a teen, was especially effective as Sarah, the girl minding the C-store who became a girlfriend of sorts to James, but could not put up with his criminal involvements. James Woods is effective as the warden, Lt. Falton. Found it on Netflix streaming movies.