This was a delightful look at forgery. The script was excellent. And the acting very good. I really enjoyed Lauren Bacall in this. Her character and her character's secret are well intertwined in this tale of redemption. From reading the other reviews I was saddened to see that many viewers simply did not understand that every lead character cannot be sympathetic. Here our lead is very messed up teen--but the proof of a good script is that why he is messed up is so well integrated into the story. His redemption is what makes the story well worth the time to watch this move. It is played flawlessly. In fact, the only thing that confused me was why he kept visiting Hayden's character in her bedroom. And then I realized they were never together in the filming of those scenes. The actually scenes where they are together probably could have been shot in a day. HERE IS THE SPOILER...DON'T READ FURTHER IS YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS.
I got a kick out of the one review that complained that the master forger should have known that in a scientific test, underlying work would show through. Now as a verified LOVEJOY fan I feel like an expert in the area. Perhaps, that is an underlying flaw in this movie--that the scene where the expert sees the underpainting on his computer shows the painting so small and so quickly that without the ability to stop the frame the image that proves this is a forgery could be missed. And some viewers obviously missed just what the underpainting is. It is a painted drawing of Dennis the Menace. What the master forger did not know is that the 'kid' decided not to go through with it. And what is really nice is that many reasons are given for him doing just that. Which makes the character complex and movie very interesting.
I got a kick out of the one review that complained that the master forger should have known that in a scientific test, underlying work would show through. Now as a verified LOVEJOY fan I feel like an expert in the area. Perhaps, that is an underlying flaw in this movie--that the scene where the expert sees the underpainting on his computer shows the painting so small and so quickly that without the ability to stop the frame the image that proves this is a forgery could be missed. And some viewers obviously missed just what the underpainting is. It is a painted drawing of Dennis the Menace. What the master forger did not know is that the 'kid' decided not to go through with it. And what is really nice is that many reasons are given for him doing just that. Which makes the character complex and movie very interesting.