Despite some weakness to the credibility of the plot development, I enjoyed this film from start to finish. The ending, although perhaps a little soppy, was what I was hoping for although pushed a little far by Boon returning, almost instantly, to his former teen lover of twenty years past and her boy.The part of Nathan was beautifully and convincingly portrayed by Branden Nadon who, I felt, gave a stunning performance as the hardened streetwise prostitute who has just the same needs and desires as everyone else. The most poignant lines for me were where he said he just wanted to be a good kid and to have a father to help with his homework and go fishing and camping.Boon and Nathan become slowly attracted despite Boon's reluctance to get into any relationship. Boon's dying father did not provide him with the paternal love and guidance he would have wished for. This reluctance also shows through when he tells his former teen lover that he is not the same man that she knew - he perhaps fears their relationship might be rekindled and him having to take responsibility. Boon strikes me as a character who wishes to avoid responsibility for himself or others. He doesn't wish to collect Nathan from the police station whilst trying as hard as he can to build barriers between them for fear of them becoming closer.Nathan's craving for a paternal figure and someone to take responsibility for and care for him are consistent with my own real-life experiences. Sadly there are too many neglected and damaged youngsters in need of love and affection. The desperation to find someone to fill that void can sometimes lead to undesirable situations.This is definitely a feel-good movie which I would happily recommend.

Nathan stays with his mother who is a drug addict and a mother in name only. He's left to fend for himself and to get drugs to support his mother's addiction. He manages this by prostituting himself. At the start of the movie, after making some money the only way he knows how, he brings home some drugs for his mother and she dies from an overdose. He's taken back to a police station and someone from social services is called to take him into care, but he decides to run away. His father is unknown, even to his mother, but he claims he's heading west to find him. I was never very clear about why he was actually motivated to head toward Vancouver. Maybe he just wanted to get as far away as possible from the life he had been living. He finds a way to coerce a man, Boon, who he runs into at a diner to give him a lift. Coincidentally, Boon was also a man that happened to be at the police station at the same time as he was. Probably one of the greatest weaknesses of the storyline was the heavy reliance on coincidences and the equally unlikely way so many things fell into place to carry the plot forward.It's hardly surprising that Boon, who appears to be transporting a supply of illegal drugs to someone in Vancouver and who has a load of personal baggage vis-à-vis his own family and childhood, bonds with Nathan along the way, while ostensibly trying to keep an emotional distance from him. Equally expected, there are some misunderstandings, disagreements and complications to their relationship along the way, but it's also fairly obvious that both Nathan and Boon grow on each other.The ending was something of a surprise, although it too depended in part on some credulity stretching coincidences and a presumed & slightly improbable happily-ever-after denouement.Well worth watching and a feel-good movie if you're not too picky about the overly "convenient" plot development. The choice of "Jet Boy" for a title seems unfortunate since it might conjure up ideas of a animated comic book character.Allowing for some dramatic license, the characters were believable and the acting was good. Branden Nadon and Dylan Walsh were especially good as Nathan and Boon.

I gave this a 9 out of 10, which is extraordinary for what, in many ways, is a pretty bad film. Sometimes a movie can touch you, like this one does, even though you know it has some terribly bad aspects like cardboard-cutout characters and unbelievable plot turns. In a movie that often has the complexity and production values of an ABC Afternoon Special, there is the stirring performance of Branden Nadon as Nathan, a young male prostitute, latching onto a drifter he wants to be his ... father figure? lover? both? There are many unanswered questions here, opportunities missed, time spent on uninteresting plot lines. But instead of walking away in disgust, Nadon's performance and character just leaves you hungry for more, and wishing scenes had been expanded. There's a scene where Nathan tells a gay teen who has just kissed him, "I just want to be a good kid," and it so excruciating and sweet and sad you wish the scene had gone on forever. When Nathan accompanies the drifter to the drifter's home town, none of the people he encounters there know how worldly he is, or how wounded he is, and how he longs to belong to someone. It's a poignant performance you won't easily forget.

-------SPOILERS BEGIN HERE-------A very sad tale about a young boy named Nathan. The movie begins on his birthday. He lives with his mother, and has never met his father. His mother's a heroin addict, and Nathan supports him, his mother, and her habit by prostituting himself. His mother dies very early in the film of a drug overdose, and Nathan proceeds to run away from social services.He soon meets Boon. Boon is an 30-something seemingly dead beat jerk. Nathan convinces Boon to let him tag along for the ride to Vancouver.-------SPOILERS END HERE-------The majority of the movie occurs in Boon's home town. Boon meets his high school sweetheart, Erin, and Nathan befriends her son Lloyd. Things take a turn for the worst when it's revealed to Erin that he is not Nathan's father.I'll save the great ending...go watch the movieThe movie shines light on the problem of child prostitution, but it's also a heartwarming father-son story.A must see for all!