The Adventures of Sebastian Cole

Told mostly in flashback, Tod Williams's episodic debut turns the rite-of-passage picture on its head. Where else would you encounter a drunkenly irresponsible mother, a motorcycling sister and a fiercely Catholic stepfather who decides to have a sex-change operation? Yet, despite this determined kookiness, there's an almost Andy Hardy feel to the pep talks shared by tousle-haired Adrian Grenier and the bewigged Clark Gregg. It's only regrettable that Williams opted to employ Gregg more as comic relief than a source of unfussy wisdom. Sufficiently confident to leave plot strands untied, this is an authentically fuzzy snapshot of a life in progress.