Jamesy Boy has its heart in the right place, and first-time director Trevor White shows some skill with actors, but the film lacks a compelling reason to exist, except perhaps as a public-service announcement.
The screenplay by Lane Shadgett and director Trevor White relies far too much on telling rather than showing.
38
RogerEbert.com
RogerEbert.com
The poems — and the film as a whole — fail to flesh James out as a whole and complicated human being worth rooting for.
30
Village VoiceInkoo Kang
Village VoiceInkoo Kang
Director Trevor White frames the former teen gang member's life as an uplifting coming-of-age prison drama that feels entirely disconnected from the realities of incarceration.
Every word of the story may be true, and if it happened to someone you knew, you'd be captivated. In Jamesy Boy, though, it's hard to see why we should care.
12
Slant MagazineSteve Macfarlane
Slant MagazineSteve Macfarlane
The movie adds up to little more than an interminable bildungsroman, sunk early and often by the desperately miscast Spencer Lofranco.