the audience applauded

Great Film overall

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Greg Sherman (Adam Frost) witnesses his parents' murders by gunmen. His corrupt father was cooperating against crime boss Dominic Patton (Nick Mancuso). Jerome Carver (John Heard) puts him into witness protection as Steven Spencer attending a private boys' school in Montreal. Patton tracks down his location. With limited photograph of Greg, the hired gunmen have to narrow down the target. Greg befriends fellow newbie Lenny Dalton (Rider Strong).Everything screams cheaper Canadian movie. The adults get side scenes. Rider Strong coming off of Boy Meets World is probably the only one of the kids who shows any spark. The perfunctory lead Adam Frost is a bit of a stiff although his character doesn't help. It boils down to Rider Strong and an intriguing twist. It's also intriguing to turn the traditional point of view inside out although this would probably work better to stay with traditional lead character Greg. Just switch the actors playing them. The other way to do this is to keep Greg a mystery. That way, the audience is figuring it out along with Lenny. Either way would be better.

I remember watching this on Hallmark, a long, long time ago. I loved it as a middle-schooler! Saw it again, after 15+ years... Time flies!The focus of the story is the friendship between the two boys... the hit-man and the target, as it turns out. I can see how the moment of the teenage hit-man's poignant realization that he's only being used, that the man he looks up to doesn't really care a fig about him, might seem too cliché and obvious to some... Not me :DWatching it again, I think the movie has held up pretty decently: 10/10.

I really wanted to like this story and was willing to suspend disbelief but this film just had too many continuity/believability problems to allow that for long.The two leads are both attractive young men and it was fun watching their friendship form. It was also fun watching the inter-relationships between the other boys but I kept getting distracted by just how unlikely the plot devices were. Also, the next time a head master of a distinguished private school is giving a speech and the best literary reference that he can make in his speech is a lame reference to Great Expectations perhaps the head master's speech should be written out. Before watching this I'd recommend School Ties (1992) or Dead Poets Society (1989) or The Emperor's Club (2002) or even A Separate Peace (2004) (TV) All have much more convincing plot lines than this. In two separate spots the "villain" is about to be lurking just around the corner when something saves him. The villain is looking for one kid on a list of about 8 and the kid we KNOW he's looking for keeps making obvious mistakes that would clue in anyone who was really looking in a heartbeat. e.g. claiming to be from Tampa and not knowing whether its on the Atlantic or the Gulf. It also bothered me how dyslexia was tossed about as a plot point without any real understanding or compassion.The actors did great with what they had to work with but this could have really used at least one more script revision before it got shot.

First off, this movie is not a comedy. It's very serious. Keeping that in mind, read on.Lenny is a sweet-natured orphan raised on the streets, but he's also a teenage hitman-in-training who is sent to find the only witness to a mob hit. The witness, Greg, also a teenager, is now under FBI protection and attending a prep boarding school in Montreal.Apparently Lenny's wise guy foster dad, who gave him the assignment, managed to find out where Greg was but couldn't supply a photo (the Mafia isn't as sharp as it used to be), so it's up to Lenny to enroll in the school, go to classes, participate in school activities, and figure out which kid is Greg.Right. This could happen. In real life. Yes, indeed.Then there's Lenny's dyslexia, which makes him feel bad about himself. (Training to be a hitman evidently doesn't harm his self-esteem, however.) My favorite part of the movie is when the school counsellor, having noticed that Lenny can't read, gives him a pamphlet on dyslexia for him to -- yes! READ!!