Nearing Grace

This film is smart, funny and, thanks in no small part to David Geddes' cinematography, it occasionally approaches the poetic.

This intimate coming-of-age story benefits from excellent performances, notably Gregory Smith's.

The richness of the characters and themes in Nearing Grace inspire director Rick Rosenthal and his cast to create a film with terrific emotional energy and larkish humor.

There's nothing remotely surprising in the entire film. But the generally winning -- and freakishly good-looking -- cast, endowed by Jacob Aaron Estes's script with intelligent, if occasionally overwritten dialogue, makes for viewing that is easy on the eyes and the ears.

Scott Sommer's late-1970s coming-of-age novel, with little of the vivid specificity of "Mean Creek," even though the two share a screenwriter and a producer.

A coming-of-age movie in which nobody comes of age.

The sort of movie that makes you feel like a heel for not liking it: Independently made and heartfelt, it also happens to have been shot in Portland. Nonetheless, the accumulation of cliches big and small manage to erase whatever goodwill its other features have engendered.