Rotten
Given all the filmed memory pieces about screaming, violent Italian-American families in New York boroughs, I'm not especially thrilled by even a well-made example.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Sometimes the only way to move forward is to go back.
2006 · 1h 44m · R
Crime, Drama
Directed by
Dito Montiel
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A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Overview
Dito Montiel, a successful author, receives a call from his long-suffering mother, asking him to return home and visit his ailing father. Dito recalls his childhood growing up in a violent neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., with friends Antonio, Giuseppe, Nerf and Mike.
Director and cast
- Dito Montiel Director
- Robert Downey Jr. as Dito
- Shia LaBeouf as Young Dito
- Chazz Palminteri as Monty
- Dianne Wiest as Dito's Mother
- Channing Tatum as Young Antonio
- Melonie Díaz as Young Laurie
- Martin Compston as Mike O'Shea
- Laila Liliana Garro as Diane (as Laila Liliana)
- Eric Roberts as Antonio
- Rosario Dawson as Laurie
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
75%
Tomatometer
Fresh
The plot itself might not break much new ground, but the telling, by both cast and crew, makes this a memoir to remember.
Ben Walters, Time Out
Fresh
It takes a while to recognize these saints, but the effort is worth it.
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
Rotten
The movie never answers the question of why, exactly, the audience should care about these characters.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Fresh
Though A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is not a great movie, I prefer its street-grit version of adolescent desperation to the arch, mannered tone of Running With Scissors.
Michael Booth, Denver Post
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