Here we go again... "Lightning Bug" is a noble attempt to inject some innovation into the Teens-Coming-Of-Age subgenre, but remains too grounded in convention to properly solidify its earnest intentions. It drips with sappy sentiment, caricatured characters, and a woefully familiar plot that pits Religious Kook against Independent Thinker. Brett Harrison plays a teenage boy with dreams of becoming a Hollywood makeup man; Laura Prepon is the secretive girl whom he loves; Ashley Laurence (who gives one of the film's worthwhile performances) is his put-upon mother; and Kevin Gage (the other worthwhile performance) is the brutal drunk who dominates over the family. Set in the South, God-fearing zealots come out of the woodwork to derail Harrison's goals, as does Gage's blue-collar drunk. Writer-director Robert Hall infuses the film with some affecting passages (Laurence, from "Hellraiser," invokes genuine sympathy), but too often seems to be putting "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" through a horror Cuisinart, with only moderate success. Worth viewing, but certainly nothing spectacular.
Review of Lightning Bug
