Lean On Pete!

If Charlie Plummer isnt nominated for all sorts of acting awards for Lean On Pete at the end of the year I will be amazed. The young actor who played J Paul Getty's grandson in last years's All The Money In The World is in virtually every scene of this movie. But first things first.

Lean On Pete is the story of a young man named Charlie, a poor young man, living hand to mouth with his father in Portland. His father isnt a bad guy, he just cannot do anything right and Charlie pays the price. One day Charlie discovers the local horse racing track and treats it as something to do. He gets a job as a gopher with low rent horse trainer Del (Steve Buscemi) and travels the northwest racing a horse named Lean on Pete, sometimes winning but mostly losing. Buscemi is also not a bad guy, but an older man beaten down by life. After Charlie's father departs the movie and Charlie is on his own he begins his quest to find his long lost Aunt Marjie in Wyoming. When Pete comes in last it breaks Buscemi's will to keep him. Horses that dont win "go to Mexico" and Charlie will not allow that to happen.

He steals Pete and leads him on a journey to Wyoming. Walking east, Charlie and Pete encounter various people also beaten down by life. Two war vets, a young woman taking care of her abusive grandfather, a kindly waitress. You sit there rooting for Charlie and Pete to get to Wyoming.

Then comes the gut punch moment in this movie you will never forget. The entire theater I was in gasped. It is truly something you can never unsee. A tear rolled down the side of my face before I even knew what hit me. The scene is jarring.

But the movie moves on. We see a drug addled Steve Zahn allow Charlie to stay with him until he doesnt. Like the rest of the movie, Charlie does what he has to do to survive, some of which is highly illegal. Does he find his aunt? You'll have to see.

Plummer's subtle acting style may bore some people. The movie is understated and realistic in its portrayal of life's losers. Charlie, who still wears his former high school's sweatshirt as a kind of reminder of when he played football and went to a real school and had a somewhat normal life, constantly lets people know of this former life when he wasnt a loser. His quest to get to his Aunt's house is a cry for a return to that normalcy.

Look, Plummer carries this film with help from good solid character actors like Buscemi, Chloe Sevigney and Zahn. It may not be a film you want to see. Its a long journey from that race track to Wyoming. For me, it was worth it.