A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, long title has nothing to do with the movie

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
Jamal's Rating: 3 stars
Netflix Average Rating: 3.3 stars

A coming-of-age film about a kid who grew up with the tough kids in Queens. Ooh, there is such a thrill from scenes such as the one where Shia Lebouf stops a kid from spraying graffiti on his friend's wall, then the kid's bigger brother pushes Lebouf, and then a girl throws a bottle at the big brother. Also the music, wonderful soulful stuff from the 70's, is great! At some point a Cat Steven's song cues up, and all the young characters introduce themselves in a way that would seem cheesy and amateurish in another movie, but here is actually moving. Robert Downey Jr. and Rosario Dawson make the billing but their scenes, taking place some ten or fifteen years later, are less interesting and kind of drag the film down. Watch for a young up-and-coming named Melonie Diaz, who was hilarious in Be Kind Rewind, and here plays LeBouf's love interest in a brave yet gentle way. The title, best as I can tell, is the author's way of paying respect to his old buddies from back home, to whom he feels humbly in debt; its ponderousness probably did a good job of scaring people away from a good, lively street film about a bunch of young people who seem trapped in their dangerous, aimless lives. Three stars, but I should probably have given it four.