johnstonjames to be truthful, i only watched this film because Marnette Patterson was in it. i was pleased to find out it was really quite a good film.the film was sweet without being too syrupy or cloying and nicely directed and well acted. Marnette Patterson is always good, and it's nice to see her when she isn't being terrorized by giant bugs or having her eyes burnt out with a cigar by a vengeful ghost(i liked both those movies), the lead actor is believable and likable as was most of the cast. the main stand out here was Julie Hagerty as the dieing mother. the dieing martyr role can so often be over played to the point of embarrassing cliché, but Hagerty is believable emotionally and physically. she truly looks and behaves like she is genuinely sick. she's dieing from cancer caused by asbestos poisoning, which reminds us all that there are many other factors harmful to our health than just cigarettes.a really nice film and a good film for young people that isn't surrounded by a lot of hype. sort of an 'Napoleon Dynamite', except that it's more of a serious drama rather than laugh out loud comedy.

anilos81 I saw this last night at the FAIF Film Festival in Los Angeles and thoroughly enjoyed it. I went to the theater not expecting to be so impressed and not knowing what I was going to see. The title is a little cheesy, although appropriate. The characters were lovable and believable. I haven't been so choked up at a movie in a LONG time. There were also great performances from relatively inexperienced actors, and some very cute/funny moments. All in all I would recommend it; if it is available I would like to purchase it. And I really hope it makes it to wide release! (As a side not I was sitting next to the main character and didn't even know until the lights cam up afterward

jmn100 The charming "Pope Dreams" was one my favorites at last week's Atlanta Film Festival. I set aside my cynicism and my adult aversion to being emotionally manipulated by a plot-by-the-numbers script when I realized that this was going to be a straight-up coming-of-age movie. Besides, it's the wonderful acting that makes "Pope Dreams" stand out in a film festival setting, which tends to show more ironically wised-up characters. Although, with a title like "Pope Dreams", I figured this film would be ironic. Instead, this was a really generous-spirited adolescent movie about social class and love and family and music.I did find the title a bit off the beam,however, since,in this cut, anyway, the Papal pilgrimage subplot is quite incidental to the story. One of the film's best bits of dialog is a musically misunderstood reference to "Early Sabbath". I thought - "that's makes a great title!" - to myself as I was watching....

george.schmidt POPE DREAMS (2006) *** Phillip Aden, Marne Patterson, Stephen Tobolowsky, Julie Haggerty, David Shatraw, Noel Fisher, Naleah Dey. (Dir: P. Patrick Hogan)The teenager in love but facing life lessons has been around for decades and best embodied during the 1980s with John Hughes and John Cusack, director and actor who best caught the voice of a generation - hell, my generation - about the nice-funny-guy who never really got the girl who wants the girl but along the way grows up into the mature adult everyone can already see. Recently Zach Braff's out-of-nowhere comedy/drama "Garden State" became "The Graduate" for Generation X, Y & Z and now comes an indie dramedy with a cast of virtually unknowns but manages to be winning, funny and surprisingly poignantly moving.Newcomer Phillip Aden stars as the Cascadian character Andy Venable, a decent kid who loves music and is the drummer of his band who are quite frankly beneath his talents. When he's not busy working with his father Carl (veteran character actor Stephen Tobolowsky, best known as Needlenose Ned of "Groundhog Day" and Sammy Jankis, the template for Guy Pearce's anti-hero in "Memento") at his audio/video retail outlet, he is dreaming of something better from his blah-sville existence in sun-dappled LA. Just when he can't figure out his life enters a beautiful blonde named Brady Rossman (hottie Marne Patterson), a Stanford sophomore whose boyfriend in San Diego but attempting to see her for a trip to Key West much to the chagrin of her father, Joel (David Shatraw), a musical composer, who denies her wishes. Determined to get her way and with the aid of her best friend, Juanita (Naleah Dey) the two girls hatch a plan: have Brady find some loser to date to infuriate her father just for spite and then dump him when he caves in for the vacation getaway.The girls find their patsy in the unknowing form of Andy when they see his band perform at the local bar and after she introduces herself and asks him out, Andy is smitten. Andy's got other problems too. His beloved mother, Kristina (Julie Hagerty, giving a career high performance) has a rare form of cancer and a short-time longevity that Andy cannot deal with despite the insistence by his father and his sisters to help them help her in her hour of need. It is too much for Andy who is also attempting to raise money so he can take Kristina to the Vatican for a personal visit arrangement to meet The Pope. Written and directed by P. Patrick Hogan (who makes a fine directorial debut here), a veteran sound editor, has a good eye and ear for dialogue in his witty, touching and earnestly adult screenplay capturing the voice of adolescent angst and the mature subject matter of death with an able hand. I can't recall a film that has accurately depicted the suffering of cancer victims with such delicacy and decency largely thanks to the impressive acting by Hagerty in her smallish yet important role. All around the acting is on par with the production in itself. Vaden - who resembles a cross between Cusack, Matthew Broderick and Bud Cort in his "Harold and Maude" hey-day - is remarkable and adept with the sly comedy and sudden drama as well as Patterson who makes her Brady a likable babe who clearly has feelings for Andy and cannot understand how her initial plan has instead given her a new relationship with the decent-hearted would-be beau; she shines in several scenes where you can see her character despising her initial plotting. Also noteworthy is Noel Fisher's soccer-obsessed Pete "Pelando" Frazier, the goofy best bud of Andy who also is surprising in a few scenes of drama where he isn't who he appears to be. Fisher recalls the younger Anthony Michael Hall with a touch of David Spade's curdled wit.I was pleasantly surprised with this film and enjoyed it thoroughly and it was nice to see veterans like Tobolowsky (in arguably his best work ever) and Haggerty (ditto) make it effortless with newbies Vaden and Patterson.