This movie didn't have to rely on BIG NAMES to make this movie great. It didn't have to rely on lots of on screen killing to be great. This movie was great because the dialog between the characters as well as the screen play were excellent all by themselves. The people who did play the parts DID justice to the characters they played. As the movie started and in the first 15 minutes, all I could think was this kid (Sean Nelson) was a punk trying to make a buck. I didn't realize, like most, until the end of the film what this kid was actaully doing, which was playing everyone like they were live chess pieces. He got what he wanted all by playing one against the other. This movie proved that a film does not have to be high budget or big names to be great. If that were the case, The Last Action Hero or Reindeer Games should win an OSCARS for Best Movie.

Michael aka 'Fresh' (Sean Nelson) is a streetwise 12-year-old. He tries to balance school, friends, dysfunctional family and his full-time drug dealing job. His sister Nichole (N'Bushe Wright) is a drug addict. He plays chess with his alcoholic homeless father Sam (Samuel L. Jackson) at the park. He lives in his grandmother's house staying with his cousins and other relatives. He works for charismatic drug dealer Esteban (Giancarlo Esposito) who starts sleeping with Nichole.

I love both Giancarlo Esposito and Samuel L. Jackson. They form compelling dueling father figures in Fresh's life. The best thing is Sean Nelson or the way that he's directed by Boaz Yakin. Sean is playing Fresh perfectly. He has both street toughness and also his youthful innocence. It's his quiet stillness that is so effective. I could really feel for him. It's a brilliant performance from this child actor.

Michael (or Fresh as he is well known) is a 12-year-old drug pusher who lives in a crowded housing project with his cousins and aunt. His father has become a street bum, but still meets with Fresh on occasion to play chess.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four stars and called it "a movie filled with drama and excitement, unfolding a plot of brilliant complexity". He praised Nelson's performance as "extraordinary" and found its plot "focused and perceptive", praising it for its social commentary.

This really is a great film, and although Sam Jackson is only in a supporting role, you have to wonder about his career choices. He does so many big, over the top films that he is known for... but then he will do these smaller, lesser-known pictures with great critical acclaim. Jackson is more than an action star with a dirty mouth... he knows how to pick his projects.