Michael Caton-Jones directs Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro and Ellen Barkin in this period adaptation of Tobias Wolff’s memoir of his bullying stepfather in the 1950s.

Time hop! If you can get past the jarring shock of DiCaprio looking simultaneously like a baby and somehow exactly as he does now as a middle aged man then there is a solid drama here. The acting is uniformly excellent, the period detail handsome but I don’t think it is unfair to say an answer song movie could probably be made about Dwight… the single father who tries to teach his rebellious stepson the values of responsibility, scouting and respect. Both child and petulant petty adult seem like particularly hard work to live with.

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