Paul’s grandfather tells him that he must be “a mensch,” a person of integrity and character. A mensch always stands up for those who are being abused. He tells Paul about his own mother, who was a teenager when Cossacks killed her parents because they were Jewish. But Paul feels pressure from his parents, who do not want him to see Johnny because they got in trouble together, and from the casually bigoted students at his new school. He wants to fit in. And he is presented with increasingly complicated and difficult situations that present challenges to mensch-iness.
The sincerity and good intentions of the movie are palpable, as are its ambitions in bringing in the election of Ronald Reagan and the future prospect of Donald Trump as connected to the difficulties faced by Johnny and the challenges of being a mensch. The film creates a vivid and evocative sense of its time and place and many scenes, especially those with Repeta and Hopkins, are touching. Hathaway as the mother is affectionate, amused, and sometimes indulgent with Paul. The shift as she defends him to the principal and then once they are out of his office, when she can say what she really thinks, is one of the movie’s best scenes. And she is deeply affecting when it is clear to us, if not to Paul, that she has had some very sad news.
But the film is less than successful in creating other authentic characters. Strong’s father is abusive or gentle and understanding as the storyline needs, a change not adequately justified by what he has experienced. The brother and public-school teacher roles are near caricatures.
Most troubling is the script’s failure to give us a fully realized, authentic character for Johnny. The movie is in large part an apology to Johnny and to all of the other kids like him who were not adequately cared for at home and who were constantly mistreated by all of the people and structures that should have been supporting them. It is heartbreaking to see Johnny insulted by his teacher and by older Black kids who scoff at him for dreaming of working for NASA. Why wouldn’t he want to get as far away from this planet as he could?
Webb is an affecting young performer, and he says a lot just with his eyes. His face lights up in those few moments when Johnny has a sense of hope and connection. But Johnny’s character is underwritten, a collection of attributes more than a personality. He is not given the same interiority we see in other characters and that feels like just another way of letting him down.
Now playing in select theaters, with a wide release on November 4th.