The Forger

     The Forger with Josh Hutcherson and Hayden Panettiere. Rated PG-13 (though I don't know why it's not PG.  There's not much language, no sexual content, and no violence, except for a fight.  The only thing I can think of which would give it a PG-13 rating is that it deals with a teenager committing a major crime; forgery.)

     The Forger is about a young homeless boy, Joshua, who just happens to be a painting prodigy.  He breaks into houses to get food, clothes, and an occasional night's sleep if the homeowner is not there.  He has a compulsion to paint.  One of the opening scenes is him painting the ceiling of the hotel room his mother abandoned him in.

     Joshua breaks into the home of a renowned artist, Everly, to get some food.  While exploring the home, he sees an unfinished picture of a turbulent sea.  He can't help but finish the painting.  After he's finished, he figures the homeowner will not be home for a while and decides to take a nap.  Everly returns home and catches Joshua.  Instead of being mad, he's intrigued by Joshua's work, and convinces the police to give him temporary custody of the boy.

     Everly turns out to be an art forger, and the painting Joshua finishes is a forgery which is convincing enough to sell for a hefty profit.  Everly enlists Joshua's talents to continue his business venture of selling forgeries.  Joshua learns all of the different techniques of painting, along with the ins and outs of producing believable forgeries.

     While living with Everly, Joshua meets another artist, Anne-Marie, whom he can relate to, and often goes to visit the older lady.  It turns out that Anne-Marie has a sordid past with Everly which is a sore subject to her.

     Joshua has a love interest, Amber, but it is an almost fill-in story, just to give the movie some sort of a romantic aspect.  It was weakly played out.

     We all know Mr. Hutcherson from The Hunger Games, but whenever I see him in anything, I think of his earlier, goofy days, like from Zathura or Bridge to Terabithia.  He seems to be the same character in all of his movies, to me.  I know, a lot of people are going to hate me for saying that, but his range is fairly limited.

     When I saw that Mrs. Panettiere was in this, I was excited.  I fell in love with her in the T.V. series Heroes, but haven't really seen any of her other films.  I was really disappointed in her role in this film.  It was non-existent, and the romance was so forced, it made the movie a little uncomfortable.

     The story-line could have been great, but I feel that the whole movie fell flat.  I don't know if it was the acting or script, but I found myself feeling very bored after the initial plot setup. 

     I'd only recommend this movie if you're fairly bored, and warn you not to have very high expectations going into it.

     In all, I'd give it