['Spoiling' is very mild since I'm sure you've guessed it's a happy film...] Having worked with high school students for some time, I really enjoyed several of the subtle and not-so-subtle commentaries, such as the principal and vice principal just watching a fight and discussing it, doing nothing (in this case a positive thing, but in reality dangerous because of liabilities, no matter what might be best for the boys), the sister not even talking to her boyfriend when she heads back in the house, and the dynamics when the parents have to come into the office.
Far from realistic, nonetheless the sunshine is written into the characters (e.g. the father is a good Catholic after all) and so doesn't come off completely Christmas film-like.
Mrs. Ritchie and the principal are beautiful models of patience and the principle of allowing people to make choices, since really, they're going to anyway, so it is better to "set the drag" really loose than "snap the line".
Highly recommended as a must-see for training mentors, tutors, and other paraprofessionals in education. I know that tutors around us often ask, "So, what did we actually do with the kids today, anyway?" and we're left saying, "We were there." Point is, isn't it, that the people we help may be "better people" than we are--I liked the touch in the film about Mrs. Ritchie's not-so-perfect past. We just happen to be needed.
I do wish that most families still had the underlying connectedness that both the families in the film demonstrate...it's like these families were first-generation dysfunctional while by the fifth generation hearts are so lost in the complexities that these sort of happy endings aren't so easily come by.
But action films usually end well, mysteries usually get solved, so there's nothing wrong with a social work film ending a little overly tied up, is there?
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