Growing Up Smith (Good Ol' Boy)
In 1979, an Indian family moves to America with hopes of living the American Dream. While their 10-year-old boy Smith falls head-over-heels for the girl next door, his desire to become a 'good old boy' propels him further away from his family's ideals than ever before.
15 June 1971, Los Angeles, California, USA
15 December 1965, Kanpur, India
22 December 1972, Tunis, Tunisia
18 November 1962, Los Angeles, California, USA
26 January 1965, Brooklyn, New York, USA
22 August 1975, London, England, UK
25 April 1970, Orange, California, USA
March 30, 2016
This immigrant clash-of-generations set-up risks falling into cliché, and sometimes does, but director Frank Lotito and the screenwriters find enough specificity and comedy in Smith's dilemma to keep the genial, family-friendly story afloat.
February 03, 2017
A crowd-friendly immigrant's tale painted with a thick coat of '70s nostalgia.
April 28, 2017
Lee provides the kind of welcome down-to-earth good-old-boy charm he used in TV's My Name is Earl and Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous.
February 03, 2017
Warm, tender and heartfelt. A funny, witty and crowd-pleasing delight! More powerful than Lion!
February 09, 2017
A strained cross between broad, culture-clash comedy and wistful coming-of-age tale, "Growing Up Smith" is a well-intentioned fizzle that misses what should have been an easily reachable mark.
February 02, 2017
The film has accidental topicality now with the debate over immigration swirling, but you don't need to burden it with politics to be touched by its tale of a child who is pulled by two very different cultural worlds.
February 02, 2017
Growing Up Smith possesses a big heart, features a funny and engagingly sincere performance by Lake Zurich's Roni Akurati, and offers an ending that swaps easy sentiment for the hard-earned kind.
May 04, 2017
The joys and pains of childhood are familiar across all cultures -- and, as the cloying comedy Growing Up Smith demonstrates, hackneyed variations on The Wonder Years also are universal.
February 01, 2017
The film feels like an extended episode of The Wonder Years, if that '60s-set series had served a little chicken tikka masala and cross-cultural understanding with its white bread and pop hits.
