Sticks and Stones

Sticks and Stones, an ersatz contemporary Stand By Me, tries to have its message-mongering both ways, alternating between a gritty cautionary tale and a feel-good "Afterschool Special." Writer/director Neil Tolkin's uneven coming-of-age tale concerns a trio of 14-year-old pals (Justin Isfeld, Max Goldblatt and Chauncey Leopardi) facing traditional adolescent travails such as uncomprehending parents, sibling squabbles and schoolyard bullies. The '90s twist heaps on the dysfunction for additional sociological weight--the parents are absentee workaholics, the bully (Jordan Brower) is a battered child, and the climactic confrontation involves someone being terrorized at gunpoint. Sticks and Stones might have worked as a warning against retaliatory violence if it hadn't simultaneously aimed for rosy Wonder Years reminiscence, where harsh realism is undercut by facile resolutions. How do you take a film seriously when it tells you that guns don't solve problems, but 14 years of brotherly animosity can be wiped away by a well-placed fastball? Kirstie Alley and Gary Busey share glorified cameos as two of the kids' ineffectual parents. Not recommended. (S. Renshaw)