Before "Titanic" and "The Aviator", Leonardo DiCaprio played the lead role - so to speak - in "This Boy's Life", based on Tobias Wolff's autobiographical novel. It portrays Caroline Wolff (Ellen Barkin) and her son moving to Seattle where she marries mechanic Dwight Hansen (Robert DeNiro). He seems like a good guy at first, but eventually turns out to be really immature and abusive. DeNiro's role is especially impressive: the first time that his character spoke, I thought that he was supposed to be Irish or something, before I realized that it was a Scandinavian-American accent...yes, Travis Bickle speaking like one of the "Fargo" characters.

All in all, a really good movie. Michael Caton-Jones later directed the equally good "Rob Roy" and the not-so-necessary "Jackal".

The characters are very real,I know many people whose personalities suit the three main characters perfectly,it is an extremely realistic film which adds immensely to the drama.

so How can you not hate Robert DeNiro in this film? .... Brilliant script, exception acting and all too frightening reality.

It's sad but true...I still love it...

Yes! This is what you slog through the mediocre movies for, those weary times when you're trying to get through an afternoon, hoping to at least come across a good scene or two, an interesting line of dialogue, a scenic view to take you out of your crowded apartment for a while. Because this, this is the kind of experience that finally makes it all worthwhile - a fast-paced, fascinating story with unbelievable characters, snappy patter, exciting scenes and some of the best acting you'll ever see. There's a reason Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio are stars and they tell you why right here. And, perhaps best of all, it's all true! It's great that writers can make up stories that grab you by the throat, pull you in and still have a hold on you even when it's all over; Dickens, Hemingway, King, O'Connor. How do they do it? But when it all actually happened, didn't spring from someone's vivid imagination but came from actual lived life - for me it adds an extra impact and somehow makes it more important. And in this case, it actually is a writer's story, the story of a writer, because "This Boy" is Tobias Wolff. I've never read anything by him, but you know what? Now I have to.