Throughout the film you never really know on whose side you belong. The parents seem to be caring but at the same time neglectful. The child is obviously weird. At the very beginning when Brad receives the call that Abby, his wife, is about to give birth he rushes out of Central Park with Josh in tow, crosses Central Park West to get a cab but leaves the boy behind on the parkside curb. Another instance of Brad's less than fully adult moves is his reaction to the news that his dog is dead. We, the audience, do not know that this was the nature of the phone call that causes him to flee the squash club, mid game, not changing his clothes and running through the streets like a madman, carrying his clothes with him steaming in the wind. One would have thought that full on death and destruction were afoot, a la 9/11, but his dog was dead. Sad, of course, but not the catastrophe he made of it. Abby is also rather distant. Pride keeps her from admitting that she needs help and she comes across as being self absorbed and self obsessed. Neither parent actually ever fully completes a transaction with their son. They never ask him how or why he feels the way he does or does the things he does. They show no interest in getting help for this boy, who clearly needs it. They are just furious with him without the loving balance of a competent parent, or even a competent adult. If you suspected that your son murdered your mother your first reaction would not be to send him to boarding school (very far way) ASAP. No one ever asks him why he killed gran. The movie is flawed, no doubt. Much is left unexplained and unsaid. A little too much, in my opinion. I wasn't sure how I felt about the film even when it became clear that Joshua had planned the outcome, i.e. the demise of his parents, and that he was indeed a bad seed (not that his parents were such bargains) What has given me pause more than anything else is the last scene when he sits with his uncle Ned (Dallas Roberts) and sings a real love song to him. A song that went on and on. It was shocking! I need to see this again, but it seems to me that Ned remained clueless. Clueless that Joshua was responsible for the situation, and clueless that Joshua was in love with him, or to be more PC, had a huge crush on him. This ultimately made me realize that this is truly a creepy film, which is not a bad thing and probably the only thing that gives it a reason to be considered worthwhile.
