A modest and charming story of father-son bonding amid economic blues in small-town America, The Confirmation is the directorial debut of Bob Nelson, an Oscar nominee for his Nebraska screenplay. In one of his stronger non-television roles in recent years, the great Clive Owen plays an underemployed craftsman and alcoholic whose brief stay with his estranged son (Jaeden Lieberher) is sidelined by the theft of expensive tools, inciting a Bicycle Thieves-style search. The film alienated me a bit by underplaying how perilous several of the situations are—father and son encounter drug abusers, handguns, and a violent pawn-shop owner along the way, going beyond a rite-of-passage taste of the wild side—but Owen and the highly promising, soulful-eyed Lieberher (who played a very similar role in St. Vincent, as well as the star child in Midnight Special) share a sweet chemistry, and overt sentimentality in largely avoided in favor of a low-key hard-times realism. The film also features a fine roster of character actors, including Robert Forster, Tim Blake Nelson, and Patton Oswalt.

B

It's a nice story and not a bad movie but it is pretty slow-paced. Not something I'd watch again.

6/10 (B-)