Random Movie Review: The Forger

I've had the flu since Thursday. Not the really wretched kind, just the kind where my bones hurt and you could have fried an egg on my face during the random fever spikes. 

It was fun. 

I'm better now, thanks to a truly wonderful husband who forced me to take Tylenol, kept me well stocked with ginger ale, and then went along with my brilliant plan to shop for 4 hours on Saturday. 

Not so fun. 

Anyways, I used my down time to work on some crafty things for an Expo I have coming up at my church. We are raising some money to cover some adoption expenses, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to sell some fun crafts and jewelry and random things I made with stuff I found on my craft shelf. Apparently, kids need beds to sleep in and clothes to wear and other such nonsense so Dr. Who and I have been coming up with ways to put money by for those things and court costs and the slim chance that if they place a newborn with us, we will have to find a few thousand dollars in our wallets to bring them home. 

So I was looking for a lazy Sunday afternoon movie to watch while I hand-stenciled some pretty cute burlap bags. I browsed the independent movie catagory on Netflix and the first one to pop up was The Forger with Josh Hutcherson.

Now since I am a ripe old 29 years old I am immune to the charm and good looks of Joshie, and I was not impressed by his portrayal of Peeta in the movie Hunger Games. (Oh, just lost 87% of my 10 readers) (It wasn't really Josh's fault since the screenwriters apparently didn't even read the book)

I decided that this movie was worth a lazy Sunday afternoon and about half my attention, so after reading a description that looked something like this:

Joshua, a teenager with a drugged-out mother on the run, wanders into the affluent community of Carmel, California. After getting himself into trouble, the authorities try to track down his mother. But in the meantime, a successful artist/businessman offers to take in Joshua and let him have a chance at a good life. His motives are questionable considering his line of business and how he plans to use Joshua's artistic talents, but Joshua has met a girl and he's not sure if the money is worth selling off his morals. 

I pushed play...or shouted PLAY VIDEO!! because I have a Kinect and you can talk to it.

About 20 minutes in, I had tears in my eyes. I was hooked.

Yeah, it was about art and forgery and teenage romance...but it was also a pretty realistic, hopeful portrayal of an orphaned teen and what happens to teens in the foster system.

He is exploited by his foster caretaker. Happens. All. The. Time.

He is befriended by a brother and sister whom you think would snub him, but actually accept him and teach him how treat others. My favorite scene was one where Josh embarrasses himself at a party with a violent outburst. The brother comes to him the next day and tells him "yeah, that was stupid...but it's fixable..so let's go fix it"

::Insert Bonnie sobbing::

As the story goes on, Josh finds himself surrounded by people who are interested in his welfare and forgive him when he steals from them or lies to them. His awesome social worker goes the extra mile for him, and unexpected people become his advocates.

Maybe it was the flu, or the low-grade fever....but I loved this movie.

It feels like a really good made-for-tv movie, like the original Disney channel movies they used to make  back in the day of Even Stevens. It definitely has its cheesy moments, but it's definitely worth watching if you want a glimpse into the inner workings of kids in the system. I loved the theme of second chances and forgiveness, even when this kid did really awful things to people who cared for him, they turned it around and taught him how to do it right.

Go watch it!

I watched it on Netflix, you can also find it on Amazon Instant Video.

Calm Down Friends!

Bonnie