This Boy's Life

1993 • 1h 55m •

Drama

MOVIEVIBE Rating

★ 7.1/10

1,116 reviews

Your Rating

When a son and mother move to Seattle in hopes for a better life, the mother meets a seemingly polite man. Things go south when the man turns out to be abusive, endangering their lives. As the mother struggles to maintain hope in an impossible situation, the son has plans to escape.

"He looked like the ideal husband. He seemed like the perfect father. That's just what they needed. But that's not what they got."

Top Billed Cast

Robert De Niro

Dwight

Ellen Barkin

Caroline

Leonardo DiCaprio

Toby

Jonah Blechman

Arthur Gayle

Eliza Dushku

Pearl

Chris Cooper

Roy

Carla Gugino

Norma

Zachary Ansley

Skipper

Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews

R r96sk Verified TMDB Critic

2025-08-19

<em>'This Boy’s Life'</em> manages to produce an impressive feat: making me hate Robert De Niro! His character here, that is. I've only seen the guy in likeable roles, <em>'Meet the Parents'</em> is as close as a portrayal has come to being unlikeable. Dwight, in this, is despicable!

All the aforementioned is simply a plus point for the film, though. It's obviously not overly difficult to make a person garner hatred, but I do appreciate that we see how Dwight becomes the way he is - e.g. the shooting scene. It does get a touch repetitive at times, only minorly so.

Not only does this fl...