I really enjoyed this movie. Mostly I enjoyed the well fleshed out characterizations. For instance, even when you really hated the father for being so abusive to Billy or the brother for being so angry, once you have a chance to know their situation you still manage to have sympathy for them. And though Billy is portrayed as a likeable kid, they didn t try to make him a perfect angel either which did nothing to turn you against him and had everything to do with making him believable. The cast was terrific from poor old grandma to Billy s friend down the street. The only thing in the movie that did not seem to ring completely true was that Billy became a star of the ballet regardless of the fact that most ballet dancers begin at around the age of 3 and Billy but did not start taking lessons until he was nearly in his teens. But I guess the whole point was that this was a prodigal who beat the odds - and in more ways than one.