A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

Story Line: Returning to his Queens neighborhood after a 15-year absence, successful author Dito (Robert Downey Jr.) encounters old friends and reflects on the life choices he made long ago, when he was a teenager running around with tough kids and butting heads with his strict but loving father (Chazz Palminteri).

Bottom Line: Although this coming-of-age yarn jumps from present to past and back again, the dominant plot thread is the one set in 1986, when young Dito (played by Shia LaBeouf) is kicking around the city streets with his rowdy pals Antonio (Channing Tatum), Giuseppe (Adam Scarimbolo) and Nerf (Peter Tambakis), while reserving glimpses of his softer, more artistic side for his girlfriend Laurie (Melonie Diaz). Initially drawn into a turf war between his buddies and a gang called "The Reapers," Dito eventually opts out and escapes the rather dismal fates of his erstwhile comrades. LaBeouf is oddly cast and often overshadowed by less accomplished actors Tatum and Scarimbolo, but he does good work nonetheless. Palminteri and Dianne Wiest are exceptional as Dito's parents, but Rosario Dawson (in a virtual cameo, notwithstanding her prominence on the DVD box) doesn't have enough footage to make much impression as the grown-up Laurie. Downey is properly morose as the writer approaching his return home with great trepidation but, again, his portion of the narrative is subservient to that involving the younger Dito. Good location shooting and an evocative music score help conceal the rough edges of Montiel's unsteady direction.