The Dream Catcher

The Dream Catcher

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Movie Reviews of The Dream Catcher

Movie Review: An absolute knockout
Summary: 5 Stars

The plot is simple: two teens, one running from a pregnant girlfriend and one from juvenile authorities, meet on the road and forge a tentative and gradually deeper friendship while they travel to Reno in search of a better life. They couldn't be more different: Freddy (Maurice Compte) is a quiet introvert and the much younger Albert (Paddy Connor) is a loud, hyperactive motormouth who obviously suffers from ADD. They hop trains, they steal cars, they hitch rides, but mostly they fight and irritate each other until they fall into a predictable and comfortable rhythm with each other. I won't give anything else away except to say it is all incredibly moving and at times funny--all the way up to the rather predictable, though appropriate, ending.

This is an absolute triumph for director Ed Radtke, who, based on the great visual look of the film and the excellent use of locations between Philadelphia and Reno, deserves a chance at a big budget studio project. And the acting is uniformly excellent, including every well-cast supporting role, and especially the leads: Compte, who is touching and compelling, and the incredible Connor, who is absolutely sensational as a boy whose hyperactive manner masks a deep and profound inner sadness that at the end just may break your heart.

The best thing about DVD (aside from introducing the widescreen format to mass audiences) is that hard-to-distribute festival winners like "The Dream Catcher" can find an audience and quite possibly gain the respect that they deserve. And hopefully we'll be seeing much more of these actors and this director in the future. They certainly deserve it.