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It stars Dermot Mulroney who plays King a "20 or 21" year old. Mulroney was near 30 when filming, and he looks every day of it. Opposite of him is Lara Flynn Boyle, a 20 year old playing a 17 year old, and she reasonably looks 17/18. They are love interests and in universe, I don't think "King" was lying about his age. But if he was, puts an interesting dynamic on the whole story that makes him super creepy and exploitative in a way he kind of gets a pass if he is only 20/21. And OMG is LFB thin. She is just skin and bones.
Also has Sean Astin playing a junkie. Terrible casting IMO. I just don't buy him as high even when he has vomit running down his chin. A couple of his early scenes were alright but I just don't buy Samwise shooting up.
Rounding out King's crew is "Little Jay" played by Balthazar Getty and he largely stole the show IMO, and "Crash" played by one of the few actors I don't recognize, but even he has over 100 IMDB entries.
Will Smith plays just a minor roll in this as a paralyzed/ crippled "youth" in a wheel chair. He's fine in it, doesn't steal the show or anything.
Also included is Kyle McLauchlin (he is a highlight of the movie), Alyssa Milano, Adam Baldwin, David Arquette, and like 10 other actors you'll probably recognize.
Best part of the movie was the costume. For any modern movies looking for a reference of early 90s street / punk / LA.
Overall I felt it glamorizes homelessness. Bad shit happens, it recognizes there is drug use, sex work, violence, but most characters seem to believe being on the streets is preferable to home and may be reasonable in doing so. It could have ended on a more somber note but for some reason decided to make most everything work out. That seemed an odd choice. Early on I thought that maybe the scenes being shown are King telling his story to researcher / therapist / whatever she was. But as the movie progressed and there were lots of scenes without King involved, that made it seem like what is being show is supposed to be what happened, not some rose colored retelling by King.
It's free on Tubitv and I think I'd give it a lukewarm recommendation. Feels like the sort of movie that could be remade into something much better, especially given the increasing visibility of homelessness.
Anyone see it? What do you think? Was King a liar and really a 30 year old creep exploiting homeless teenagers or was he as much a victim as anyone else?
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