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'The Favor'

Rating:

May 1, 2008

It's been quite a month for middle-aged men whose stalled lives are jump-started by unexpected encounters. First came Dennis Quaid's cranky English professor in "Smart People" and Richard Jenkins' sad-sack economics prof in "The Visitor."

In "The Favor," Frank Wood plays Lawrence, not an academic but a pet photographer living in Bayonne, N.J. When his high school girlfriend drops back into his life - and quickly drops out again - Lawrence adopts her troubled teenage son, Johnny. Writer-director Eva Aridjis accidentally paints Lawrence as a bit too drippy for the film's own good, but in any case her heart belongs to Johnny, a sensitive screw-up convincingly played by Ryan Donowho, of Fox's "The O.C." Even if "The Favor" doesn't deliver as much emotional impact as it would like, Aridjis is an honest and nuanced filmmaker, and perhaps one to watch.

THE FAVOR (unrated). 1:50 (profanity, drug use, adult themes). At Quad Cinema, Manhattan. - RAFER GUZMÁN