belphegor8818
I gave 3 stars mostly because of genre, it states that it is COMEDY, and I was prepared to watch some comedy, but it was pure life DRAMA. Movie is OK, i watched better, but its not bad. I was pretty disappointed because I expected to watch some fun-time comedy, and not drama.About actors; they ware good. Clive Owen, is often underrated as an actor, where hi does his usual solid performance as a recovering alcoholic-father. But it is the supporting actors who bring this drama spotlight. Jaeden Lieberher, who plays the kid role, is good, and you can enjoy his performance as young drama actor.
rj-27
It's no accident that about a third of the way through the movie, Clive Owen and Jaeden Lieberher, as father and son in The Confirmation are watching an old episode of The Rifleman - the quintessential TV western that was more about a father relating to his son in difficult and dire situations than it was about his gun.Clive Owen plays a divorced, alcoholic father who sees his son Jaeden Lieberher on weekends. One particular weekend, the father has his woodworking tools stolen. These are specialized carpentry tools that are irreplaceable. The son accompanies his dad on a series of misadventures in an attempt to recover the lost tools, which he must have for an upcoming job that he desperately needs.While a comparison can be made to the classic The Bicycle Thief, this movie stands on its own merits as an endearing case study of a boy's love for his father, willing to do whatever it takes to keep him on the straight and narrow path, and enabling both parent and child to rise to the occasion and succeed.This is a wonderful role for Owen and it is beautifully played. While Lieberher's character may seem a bit more precocious than would be expected of such a young boy, it does not come off as unbelievable.This is a movie the whole family can enjoy, all the more so because of its timeless themes of suffering and redemption, and not portraying fathers as the likely losers you so often see in Hollywood these days.
billyweeds-1
This wondrous comedy-drama features the directorial debut (at the age of 59!) of Bob Nelson, Oscar-nominated writer of "Nebraska'" and actually tops the earlier movie. The story of an alcoholic, down-on-his-luck carpenter who spends a chaotic but exciting weekend with his eight-year-old son is sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving, sometimes exciting, and always sublime.Acting by Clive Owen as the father constitutes his screen peak to date, and Jaeden Lieberher as the boy is absolutely astounding, one of the best child performances within memory. Supporting performances are all terrific, with special mention due to Patton Oswalt as a likable meth addict.
lavatch
The strength of "The Confirmation" is the sensitive portrayal of an alcoholic father, as played by Clive Owen. Owen's character Walt has visitation rights with his son, Anthony, and the film traces a wild weekend of "bonding" between father and son.The film is primarily a drama, but it includes comic moments, especially in the cast of seedy characters. Anthony is the little boy who plays the role of caretaker for his beleaguered dad. There is a fine supporting cast with Maria Bello, Matthew Modine, and Robert Forster. But the focal point is that of Owen's character and his youngster, played effectively by Jaeden Lieberher.SPOILER ALERT FOLLOWS: The one curious choice on the part of the filmmakers was to close the film with the theft of the father's tools from a pawn shop. While the film was attempting to pay homage to Vittorio De Sica's famous film "Bicycle Thieves" from 1948, the final sequence didn't work. Unfortunately, the theft of the tools was teaching a horrible lesson to the young boys, and it made no sense in the logic of the film. Surely the owners of the pawn shop would have had Owen's character and the boys prosecuted."The Confirmation" is set in Kent, Washington. There was good footage of the community, which helped to draw the viewer into the film. One of the subtleties of the film was to convey the hardscrabble life of Americans in the twenty-first century. In watching this film, one was almost reminded of America in the Great Depression of the 1930s.
AD
