Where The Day Takes You

Stars: Dermot Mulroney (Young Guns), Sean Astin (Encino Man, Toy Soldiers), Balthazar Getty (Lord of the Flies, December), Lara Flynn Boyle (The Rookie, Twin Peaks), Adam Baldwin (Radio Flyer), James LeGros (Drugstore Cowboy), Will Smith (TV's "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air"), Ricki Lake (Hairspray). Meant to be a kind of fictionalized cinema verite, this would-be gritty look at homeless teenagers surviving on the mean streets of Hollywood features a talented (and largely wasted) ensemble cast who spend the first three-quarters of the film looking for a story and the final quarter acting out a melodramatic teenage angst milker that would have made James Dean blush. Dermot Mulroney as King, is the lynchpin for the film, as the story cuts back and forth between interview sessions involving him and social worker Laura San Giacomo (other notables who appear in cameo or unheralded roles include Christian Slater and Kyle MacLachlan), and King steering his extended family through the day. The problem with Where the Day Takes You is that it wants to have it both ways: the end credits make it clear with statistics and hotline phone numbers that the movie's heart is in the right place; but the film ultimately glamorizes its subject and provides more than a little instruction on streetlife. The 1985 documentary film Streetwise offered a much more compelling (and real) look at life on the street for runaway teens. Audience: Older teens will certainly be interested in this; outside of that group, the film has limited appeal.