The script is rich in human relationships, including an unusual number of suspenseful ones where we don't know which direction the character's decision-- even if it's a minor character-- will take the movie in. Much revolves around the hero's best buddy, who is a schoolyard bully and perhaps doesn't deserve his friendship. Who ever heard of a movie hero whose best friend is a bully? Or a movie where ditching your best buddy is an option? But the little hero, Eli, finds that in his upscale neighborhood corruption and intimidation are far from unknown. In fact, maybe his father doesn't exactly deserve to be his father. Maybe Eli doesn't deserve his girlfriend. Things, as Eli says near the start of the movie, are beginning to fall apart, and he's a little young for saving the day; he doesn't even drink coffee yet. I'm surprised that the film wasn't more successful commercially. Maybe the problem is that the worst thing about it is the title. The fact that the father's name is Ben-- which means "son" in Hebrew and evidently is a comment on how he is cornered by his own father, his own son, and his own immaturity-- makes for a spot of confusion, as does the other half of the title, the son's unusual name, which needs extra punctuation to even be pronounced correctly in Hebrew.
