** out of five stars

Child actor Haley Joel Osment, with his latest film role, shows how much he’s grown since he became a household name.

Best known as the boy who cried ‘I see dead people’ in the hit ‘The Sixth Sense,’ Osment continues to prove himself as one of his generation’s finest performers with his turn in the quirky coming-of-age drama ‘Secondhand Lions.’

Bolstered by emotional performances from Osment, its seasoned cast and a story littered with offbeat characters, ‘Secondhand Lions’ manages to avoid the sappiness and predictability of the films in its genre. The film’s nostalgic look at the trials of growing up and family is something that will appeal to all age groups.

At the beginning of ‘Secondhand Lions,’ which is set in the 1960s, Walter (Osment) has no real sense of family. His father abandoned him before the first reel of film unrolls and his mother, Mae (Kyra Sedgwick, ‘Phenomenon’), appears ready to do the same. A loud and flighty woman, Mae has decided that Walter will spend the summer with his great-uncles, Garth (Michael Caine, ‘The Cider House Rules’) and Hub (Robert Duvall, ‘The Godfather’), who supposedly have a stolen fortune somewhere on their property. Garth and Hub confess right away in husky tones that they ‘know nothing about children.’ But despite their numerous differences, introverted Walter and extroverted Hub and Garth soon begin to bond in unexpected ways.

Osment works perfectly as a boy coming of age because he is, in fact, a boy coming of age. He has the mannerisms. These include a cracking voice when he learns that his uncles have no television set and a look of longing after he discovers a picture of a beautiful woman hidden in his bedroom. Osment also brings a key sense of wonder to proceedings as, through Walter, the audience learns about the many adventures Garth and Hub had in their younger years. As far-fetched as the stories appear, Walter’s willingness to believe in them make them all that more real. It was no doubt a daunting task performing alongside two legendary actors, but Osment holds his own.

Caine and Duvall, masters of the trade, deliver the goods as the quirky great-uncles. As the mild-mannered Garth, Caine excels much like in his award-winning ‘The Cider House Rules’ role. He effectively gives off the air of a man who has lived an exciting life and is now perfectly content facing the quiet of old age. Caine does this through silent, wistful stares and the soothing tone he adopts when narrating stores to Walter.

Duvall, meanwhile, tears into a meatier role as Hub. Hub is the exact opposite of Garth, a man of energy terrified of what old age will do to him. Duvall reflects both aspects of Hub’s personality, making the character believable whether he’s beating up a pack of teenagers or mumbling incoherently to himself while sleepwalking.

The film, written and directed by Tim McCanlies (‘Dancer, Texas: Pop. 81’), works because it surprises the audience despite a routine storyline. Many coming-of-age stories feature older relatives with sage advice – but few have those relatives go out and buy a junked airplane to rebuild. And even fewer have their characters purchase a secondhand lion from the circus to hunt. The lion serves as an obvious metaphor for the film’s themes, and yes, most of the twists in the story can be seen coming from a mile away. However, McCanlies’s creative approach allows the viewer to forgive the predictability.

‘Secondhand Lions’ is a first-rate film, thanks to strong performances from its three leading men and a fresh approach to familiar material.

Christopher Reilly is a senior magazine major. His reviews appear Fridays in the Daily Orange. E-mail him at cgreilly@syr.edu.

Published on September 18, 2003 at 12:00 pm