Review by esh04676

Removing the periods from the title gives the word "lie," maybe too obvious a metaphor for this film about kids growing up in well-heeled suburbia. Behind the outer trapping of beautiful homes set amid spacious green lawns there is lots of trouble for the people living there. Howie (Paul Franklin Dano), grieving over the death of his mother, lives with his father who is preoccupied with new women in his life. He is a hard-fisted operator of a construction business looking only for money and cutting corners on building contracts. Howie and his best friend, Gary (Billy Kay), are somewhat involved with a local teenage gang who break into homes and steal just for the excitement of it. Eventually Howie is befriended by an older man, Big John (Brian Cox) an ex-Marine and a pederast,who at first sees troubled Howie as a desirable target for his affections but later develops real bonds of sympathy for the boy as his troubles at home and school become more and more overwhelming. The performances of Dano and Cox are fine and make L.I.E. a compelling film to watch. (Note to the makeup supervisor: why did the black eye Howie got from his father move from left to right in various scenes?) H