Brad Renfro, Joseph Mazzello, Nicky Katt

Dexter, age 11, who has AIDS, and his next door neighbor Eric, a little older and much bigger, become best friends. Eric also becomes closer to Dexter's mother than to his own, who is neglectful and b...( read more  read more... )igoted and violently forbids their friendship upon learning of it. When they read that a doctor in distant New Orleans claims to have found a cure for AIDS, the boys leave home on their own, planning to float down the Mississippi river and find him.

Flixster Users

80% liked it

8,446 ratings

Critics

33% liked it

9 critics

PG-13, 99 min.

Directed by: Peter Horton

Release Date: April 21, 1995

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DVD Release Date: November 23, 2004

Stats: 486 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (486)


  • October 12, 2008
    In all honesty, if I had a child, I would be a little hesitant in letting him play with someone who was infected with AIDs because I know that children can be careless about bodily fluids and handwashing.

    The movie is a bit outdated now, as a lot of advances have been made in ...( read more)AIDs treatment since then. Even in the 90's, some of the medical scenes were inaccurate. Yet I still found this movie endearing. The bond between the two boys was timeless and it will remind everyone of their best friend while growning up.
  • January 21, 2008
    Back in the 90s, a huge amount of Dramas "for kids" were released and many of us matured a little bit by discovering new tragedies of this world and this life by seeing them... but most of them were pretty damn bad movies. Not this one. "The Cure" is definitely one of the top "ki...( read more)ddie dramas" of the 90s if not the best. There are 2 main reasons for this: the subject. Back in the 90s, dealing with the AIDS subject was kind of fashionable in movies but dealing with it outside the cliche box of homosexuality or drug use was absolutely original and daring. Even more if you place the virus in a child. Dexter wasn't gay or got the disease from his parents: he simply got a wrong blood transfution. But the absolutely best about this film are both Mazzello's and Renfro's performance: two kids who don't give a crap about the discrimination surrounding them as they just want to be friends and have some adventures here and there. A truly touching "buddy movie" before being an "AIDS movie"...
  • January 19, 2008
    Predictable and moving tale of friendship and faith and a brave tacke of an issue called AIDS. Brad Renfro's second acting job. R.I.P.
  • October 24, 2008
    A touching story with two wonderful leads: Joseph Mazzello and the late Brad Renfro.
  • November 24, 2009
    Me gustaría saber dónde puedo conseguir éste título.

    He estado tratando de localizarlo si tener éxito.

    Ojalá y alguien pueda ayudarme
  • November 24, 2009
    Dónde la puedo conseguir.
    He tratado or muchos medios y no la encuentro.
    Favor de poder ayudarme
  • October 17, 2009
    I've seen this when I was in high school. its a very touching story of friendship.
  • July 24, 2009
    I duNno why i LoVe waTcHing moVies lIke this,.. I was jUst 4 years OLd when the movie was released, and I just wacHed it cOuPLe of day s ago,. AltHough its a bit prediCtaBLe,,(ObVioUsLy fRom the diSease itseLf), but the sTory and their fRieNdship caught my seNses,.. Specially the...( read more) Mom of Dexter,very tOuching.. I eNjoyed watChing it,,.. Rest in PeAce Brad Renfro,,..
  • July 4, 2009
    a must see movie,really touching...
  • July 3, 2009
    "Two boys found a way to make one summer last a lifetime."



    A tale of a young boy, Dexter (Joseph Mazzello) with AIDS who befriends a rough and tumble boy (played by Brad Renfro) his exact opposite, The Cure is sad, if a bit too soapy, pull at your emotions "message"...( read more) movie with it's heart in the right place. For that fact alone, it's a recommended view. The highlight might be just watching them finding friendship and hanging out with each other when no one else accepts them.



    However since the real story centers on the boy's AIDS - things take off when one day at the local supermarket, Dexter's eye catches a checkout tabloid magazine that states a New Orleans doctor has discovered the cure. Both of them, obviously a tad naive, make it a plan to set out for New Orleans in whichever means possible. Which kinda pulled me two ways. It's a mite heart warming and I hate to nit-pick, but I found the plot wanders in a melodramatic, predictable sense and the proceedings have a coat of gloss over them like only movies can do. I couldn't escape the tugging notion I was watching a road trip movie about self discovery, sickness and growing up. For instance, I know they're young, but I found it a real task to belief in the things these boys do. Like boiling tree leaves and drinking the hot 'tea' or eating an experimental diet of chocolate bars because they believe it will combat the ravaging disease. To say nothing of them making a cross-country voyage as they do with no legal or downright scary repercussions. Still misgivings aside, those movie conventions you come to expect, it's a story worth seeing particularly with family.




    Linda: Dexter, is Erik staying for dinner?
    Dexter: Waka.
    Erik: That means 'yes', white woman.

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Critic Reviews


Comments


  • jeff2bare
    May 6, 2008
    I wasn't able to watch this movie yet, but it seems that I should watch it. The plot interests me much - story of unconditional friendship...
  • azpcgrad2005
    January 26, 2007
    this movie has so much love and so much friendship its the best movie of all time!

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