William Wyatt (Emory Cohen) is a gifted high school kid with a photographic memory. He steals cars, deals in mushrooms, and likes to get high. His antics land him in the Bernville Camp for Boys, a juvenile boot camp. Here we have the typical sadistic guard (Paul Sparks); the director (John Leguizamo) who turns a blind eye to what is happening in his camp; and a nurse (Heather Lind) with Mr. Jones still on her back.William's gift allows him to make friends in all the cliques as he tries to save Nathan (Al Calderon) a kid who is seriously ill and not getting the proper medical attention he needs.The story is "inspired by true events" and is one of a number of juvenile camp films out there, all with basically the same prison plot line, i.e. new person, makes, friends, evil system, revolt. My favorite ones have Pamela Grier in them, and their was an interesting one with a ghost. This one is of a more serious nature and is made watchable because of the likeable unpredictable bad boy character of Billy Wyatt.I think they could have come up with a better title. I would avoid IMDB on this film as they have posted a plot spoiler review.Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity. Fighting violence.

Not the space it plays in, but the script that is. It's a really decent effort into crime territory, though mostly played in a "restricted" area (to put it mildly). If you know more about the story, than you know what I mean, otherwise be surprised if you want to, where this is going (with or without stolen cars).This is definitely not another Gone in 60 seconds, it's much more of a drama and the stellar cast gives it more than a bit of gravitas. I'd argue they were drawn into the project by a very neat script. If all translated onto the screen, is something you have to decide for yourself. Does it have faults and flaws? The answer is yes, so do the characters in it, but that's what could be described as the extra something that keeps this ... driving

Some sluggish direction and pacing rob Stealing Cars of being a really great film about juvenile crime and incarceration. Stealing Cars is in a tradition of films like this that go back to James Cagney's Mayor In Hell.Emory Cohen is our brilliant protagonist in the sense of one high IQ. Yet he's in the Bernwood Correctional Facility for a tragic mistake that has made him forgot to care about anything. His role model seems to be Paul Newman from Cool Hand Luke.Besides Cohen the acting honors go to John Leguizamo as the warden of the place. Is scene with Cohen where Cohen finally breaks down and we learn the reason for his cynicism is brilliant. But we also learn that Leguizamo has his own agenda and it's not a healthy one.I'm agreeing with another reviewer that the characters besides these two have no real depth as written and no great direction to make them come to life. Still Stealings Cars is a worthwhile film to watch.

"Tomorrow doesn't have to be yesterday." Billy Wyatt (Cohen) is rebelling against everything. When he finally gets caught and arrested he takes his attitude with him. Little by little he finds out his attitude has to change. With the help of warden De La Cruz (Leguizamo) Billy begins to realize why and how to change. This is a movie that was a total surprise. It started off OK but the more I watched the more I enjoyed it, and by the end it became a movie that I want to tell everyone to watch. The acting is great and the movie just feels real. The movie is emotional and moving without really trying to be and really punches you in the gut with the ending, in a good way. There really isn't a whole lot I can talk about without giving something away because it really builds on the emotion throughout and the pay off is more than worth it. All I will say is that this is what movies should be and I highly recommend. Overall, one of the reasons why I say the big budget movies are not as good as the independent ones. This should get more of an audience than it will. I give this an A.