Paul takes a lot for granted.
Because his mother is the head of his school’s P.T.A., he feels he can get away with misbehaving. Because his brother attends an expensive private school, he believes his family is rich. And because he’s never personally been the victim of racial profiling, he doesn’t think it’s necessary to stand up for those who have experienced that treatment from others.
But Paul’s about to face a reckoning. Because he’s about to realize that all those things he thought were true are completely false.
It’s the ’80s, and yes, Paul does have some advantages in life, but those didn’t come easy. They were paid for by the hard work and perseverance of his parents, his grandparents and even his great-grandparents before him.
Paul may have been too young to understand these realities before. But now, he’s finally growing up.
Paul’s family is dysfunctional, to say the least. His dad is abusive, his mom is in denial, his aunt is racist, his brother is a jerk, and his grandfather (the one person in his life whom Paul actually respects) is terminally ill.
Their poor behaviors, while inexcusable, are born from difficult lives. But it’s clear they want something healthier for the next generation. Paul’s dad tells his son that he wants Paul to be “better” than him. His mom tells him that he and his brother are her “angels” and that all her hopes rest with them.
But it’s Paul’s relationship with his grandpa that has the greatest impact on his life.
Grandpa tells Paul about their family’s past: how his own grandparents were murdered in Ukraine because of their Jewish heritage; how he was rejected from college for the same reason; and how Paul is lucky to have the surname “Graff” instead of “Rabinowitz,” since it’s less obviously Jewish.
Grandpa explains to Paul that he and Paul’s parents have worked hard their whole lives so that Paul and his older brother can truly have the American Dream. And he says it’s up to Paul to remember the sacrifice made by those who came before him and to honor them by not taking those advantages for granted.
Furthermore, Grandpa emphasizes to Paul how important it is to use those advantages to help others. When Paul tells his grandpa that he heard some kids using racial slurs at school, Grandpa tells Paul to stand up for the Black and Hispanic kids. “Be a mensch,” Grandpa says, “because they don’t have your advantage.”
Later, after Grandpa’s passing, Paul worries that he didn’t do enough to help Jonathan, a Black boy who, unfortunately, becomes the catalyst for Paul’s growing understanding of racism’s presence in his school. But he imagines what Grandpa would say to him: Never stop fighting, and never give in.
Paul starts to show consideration for others as the film progresses. When he and Jonathan get caught in some wrongdoing, he tries to take full responsibility to protect his friend. And when Grandpa passes away, Paul worries more about his mother than he does about himself.
We hear that Grandpa was the only member of Paul’s maternal family not to turn his nose up at his father’s profession as a plumber.
Obviously, the title of the film references its setting at the height of the Cold War in the 1980s, when the threat of nuclear annihilation was (and still is) compared to the end-times battle of Armageddon as referenced in the biblical book of Revelation.
We hear America compared to Sodom and Gomorrah. A rabbi officiates a funeral.
A boy is crudely told that if he cries to the school counselor, she’ll let him “plant” his face in her chest. We see a teenage boy in his undergarments.
People fear a nuclear war when Reagan is elected President in 1980.
When Paul disrespects his mother, she grabs him by the chin and tells him that she’ll no longer defend him from his father. After she releases him, Paul flees to the bathroom to hide. His dad screams for Paul to unlock the door. When Paul refuses, his dad breaks the door down and beats Paul with a belt. Paul cries that he hates his dad and his family, and his dad responds by slamming Paul’s head into the wall. (It’s clear that Paul’s older brother is used to this treatment since he similarly flees when their dad issues a threat and since he finds Paul’s punishment amusing.)
We hear that Grandpa’s grandparents were stabbed to death in front of his mother because they were Jewish.
When Jonathan shows up at Paul’s house shoeless with cut and bleeding feet, Paul offers him some bandages. But Jonathan declines, claiming his feet are almost healed.
Paul and his brother repeatedly horse around and hit each other (and Paul hates this). Paul expresses a desire to hit his teacher.
There are eight uses of the f-word and twice as many of the s-word. A boy at Paul’s school uses the n-word derogatorily. God’s name is abused 16 times (six paired with “d–n” or “d–mit”), and Christ’s name is abused once. We also hear a few uses each of “a–,” “a–hole,” “b–tard,” “d–n,” “d–k,” “h—” and the Yiddish crudity “schmuck.” When Jonathan is transferred to a special needs class, he refers to it as a class for “retards.”
Paul’s grandfather curses twice in front of him, explaining that he is using the harsh words to emphasize how serious he is.
Paul and Jonathan get caught smoking marijuana in their school bathroom and are nearly expelled for the illegal offense. The film suggests that neither boy truly understood the magnitude of what they were doing, since Jonathan’s cousin (who had given him the drug) had only told him that it makes you laugh after you smoke it. However, the boys’ unwise decision has the collateral consequence of Paul’s mother being unable to run for the school board.
Paul, plainly put, is spoiled. He thinks his family is rich because his older brother attends private school. In reality, they work hard for their limited money; and his grandparents (who also have limited funds) helped to pay for his brother’s schooling (and eventually Paul’s as well).
Paul behaves pretty badly at several points. He steals cash from his mother’s jewelry box. When he doesn’t like what his mom cooks, he either demands something different or orders food from a restaurant.
And his parents enable this self-centered behavior. When Paul gets up from the dinner table to order food—right after his mom explains that ordering out is too expensive, no less—his parents yell at him from the dining room to stop. And when he disobeys, rather than physically stop him or even discipline him for his actions, they let him continue and go unpunished. In fact, the only time Paul actually listens to his parents is when his grandpa requests it (though sometimes not even then) or when he is physically threatened by his father.
So, it’s no surprise that these behaviors extend outside the home as well. Paul is disruptive in school (and this forms the basis of his friendship with Jonathan). But when a teacher suggests that Paul’s inability to pay attention might be the result of him having special needs, Paul’s mother insists it’s the school’s fault.
Granted, the school is overcrowded and underfunded. But even when Paul transfers to a much better private school, his parents refuse to listen to the educators who tell them that he might have some sort of learning disability. Worse still, Paul operates under the belief that if he gets into trouble, his parents will simply use their money and power to get him out of it (an entitled attitude which has significant consequences later on).
Paul and Jonathan’s friendship, while genuine, is built on their mutually disruptive behaviors. They are rude to their teacher, distract their classmates with their silly antics and talk about running away from their families.
Jonathan, for his part, doesn’t actually want to leave his family, he just doesn’t want to be put into foster care since his elderly grandmother (and caretaker) is too sick to care for him anymore.
Paul’s brother, meanwhile, completely disregards him. He’s unhelpful when Paul transfers to his school, essentially telling Paul not to embarrass him and then abandoning him. He also watches and laughs when Paul is physically punished by their father. And it’s clear he thinks his younger brother is inept.
Kids commit truancy. A boy drops out of school when he is transferred to a special needs class. A teacher implies a student is dumb (and so do other adults). Paul fears that his new classmates are ingenuine and will desert or mock him if he says anything “stupid.” Some boys throw spitballs at each people.
A woman speaks at Paul’s new school (Maryanne Trump, to be exact) and offers two contradictory statements. She says that there are no handouts in life even for the privileged, so they’ll have to work hard. But she also suggests that they are the elite and will lead in all fields because they attend this privileged school.
[Note: The rest of this section contains spoilers.] Eventually, Paul and Jonathan do decide to run away together. Paul hatches a plan to steal and sell a computer from his new school (his parents transferred him to a private school after he was nearly expelled from the public school system for drug use) so he and Jonathan can move to Florida and live with Jonathan’s older brother.
But the boys get caught when the pawn shop they try to sell to decides to call the police instead. And it’s through this incident that Paul finally realizes how bad racial profiling can be.
Paul had already seen bits and pieces of racism: His old schoolteacher tended to blame Jonathan for class disruptions even when Paul was responsible; his aunt and even his parents had made comments about Black people being dangerous somehow; his new classmates used racial slurs; and people informed Jonathan that he wouldn’t be able to pursue his dream of becoming an astronaut since he is Black. But when Paul tells the police that stealing was his idea and that he forced Jonathan to go through with it, they don’t believe him.
Moreover, Paul realizes that he isn’t invincible either. When Paul’s dad arrives at the police station, he is able to secure his son’s release because he happened to have fixed a water heater for free for the officer on duty.
Afterwards, he explains to Paul that he’ll probably never see Jonathan again. “We got lucky,” he tells Paul. And even though it’s unfair for Jonathan to take the heat, life is unfair, he says. We have to survive, so be thankful when you get a leg up, he continues.
It’s a difficult concept for Paul to grasp. And by the end of the film, it’s hard to say whether he truly understands or not.
Paul is the kind of kid you probably don’t want your own kids emulating. He’s rude, disobedient and makes some really bad decisions that affect those closest to him. (His mom loses a job opportunity, and his best friend gets arrested as a result of his actions.)
And if Paul were more apologetic or even just less bratty, perhaps the film would be more encouraging.
Instead, Paul’s transformation in this coming-of-age tale is left open-ended, leaving audiences wondering whether he truly understood what his family repeatedly tried to convey to him: that he shouldn’t take anything for granted.
Additionally, this R-rated film is filled with harsh language. A Black child is called the n-word, and we see multiple examples of racism. A father beats his son with a belt. Two middle-school-aged boys are nearly expelled from school after getting caught smoking marijuana; later, they’re both arrested for stealing a school computer and trying to sell it.
All of that makes for a film that isn’t inspiring or wholesome. So even though it’s about a family pursuing the American Dream, families should probably steer clear.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
