A period story about a Catholic boy who tries to help a Jewish friend get into heaven by sending the audience straight to hell.

| Sep 23, 2002

Nearly all the fundamentals you take for granted in most films are mishandled here.

| Original Score: C- | Jun 27, 2002

Even when his technique is amateurish, Jones' belief in the material is refreshing.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 16, 2002

The performances take the movie to a higher level.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 10, 2002

The problem, amazingly enough, is the screenplay.

| Original Score: 1/4 | May 3, 2002

Ill-considered, unholy hokum.

| Original Score: 1/4 | May 3, 2002

If you ignore the stilted adult performances, Stolen Summer is a persuasive portrayal of boyhood friendship.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 26, 2002

A static and sugary little half-hour, after-school special about interfaith understanding, stretched out to 90 minutes.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Apr 26, 2002

Made with no discernible craft and monstrously sanctimonious in dealing with childhood loss.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2002

A sweet story appropriate for the whole family, though it feels a bit like an after-school special.

| Mar 22, 2002

An artificial exercise in personal childhood reverie whose squishy, generic personality shows evidence aplenty of corporate fingerprints.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 22, 2002

Plays out with a dogged and eventually winning squareness that would make it the darling of many a kids-and-family-oriented cable channel.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 22, 2002

Watching Stolen Summer makes one question the entire Project Greenlight process, starting with the notion that anyone off the street is fit to write and direct a motion picture if only they want it badly enough.

| Original Score: 0/5 | Mar 22, 2002

A delightful surprise because despite all the backstage drama, this is a movie that tells stories that work -- is charming, is moving, is funny and looks professional.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 22, 2002

Jones ... makes a great impression as the writer-director of this little $1.8 million charmer, which may not be cutting-edge indie filmmaking but has a huge heart.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 22, 2002

Begins promisingly with some nicely observed bits of comedy before drifting permanently into the kind of heavier message mode that would have made for the ideal after-school special.

Full Review | Mar 22, 2002

It has the wide, winsome, don't-hurt-me eyes of a Walter Keane painting. Unfortunately, though, it isn't very good.

| Mar 21, 2002

Well-meaning but inert.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Mar 21, 2002

Taken on its own, Jones' first feature is a small thing, and no indicator of what he might do in the future with the 온라인카지노추천 lights turned off.

| Original Score: C+ | Mar 21, 2002

Stolen Summer isn't a home run, but it's a solid line drive up the middle.

Full Review | Mar 19, 2002