The Mudge Boy

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The Mudge Boy ★★½ 2003 (R)

Duncan Mudge (Hirsch) is not your average teenage boy. Wearing his dead mother's clothing, he bikes around town with his pet chicken in tow. Not surprisingly, he's picked on by the other boys and scorned by his own father (Jenkins). But one boy is drawn to Duncan, a tough kid named Perry (Guiry). Perry's confused sexuality leads him to abuse and then reject Duncan, with gruesome results. Explores the pain of loss and youth well. Cast is uniformly good, particularly Hirsch and Jenkins. And hey, who knew you could calm a chicken by sticking its head in your mouth? 94m/C DVD . Emile Hirsch, Tom Guiry, Richard Jenkins, Pablo Schreiber, Zachery Knighton, Ryan Donowho, Meredith Handerhan, Beckie King; D: Michael Burke; W: Michael Burke; C: Vanja Cernjul; M: Marcelo Zarvos.