Trailers can often fool you into thinking a film will be much better than it turns out to be—the trailer for Requiem for a Dream had me anxiously awaiting its release, only to find that it was a stereotypical and soulless film-school exercise. The trailer for L.I.E. did much the same for me—it looked visually interesting, starred a great character actor, and promised some daring subject matter. Even though the hypocritical MPAA board condemned L.I.E. with the dreaded NC-17 rating, the tightly constructed trailer made the film look like an exciting must-see.

Sometimes individual parts are much better than the whole. Such is the case with Michael Cuesta's L.I.E., which seems like a thinly disguised rip-off of American Beauty without all its layers (and the plastic bag). Cuesta's amateurish script plays like a melodramatic after-school special (dealing with more risque themes and characters than television would allow), but the acting performances of Brian Cox (the original and best Hannibal Lector, in Manhunter) and Paul Franklin Dano make L.I.E. well worth seeing.

Newcomer Dano (now better known from Little Miss Sunshine and There Will Be Blood) plays vulnerable 15-year-old Howie Blitzer, who opens L.I.E. with a monologue about car crashes and death on the Long Island Expressway (which gives the film its not so subtle title with intentional double entendre)—famous people like Harry Chapin and director Alan Pakula, and someone you've never heard of (Howie's mother). He wonders if the L.I.E. will take him as well as he balances precariously on one foot above the busy expressway.

Howie is a sensitive kid—how many modern 15-year-olds write their own poetry, can quote Walt Whitman, appreciate Chagall, and recognize classic references from Casablanca? Obviously distraught and lonely, Howie needs emotional support, but his father is a clumsy and sleazy lout, who copes with his wife's death by jumping immediately into bed with a red-thonged silent bimbo. Howie's high-school counselor doesn't have any success breaking though the kid's exterior either.

Initially Howie seeks peer acceptance with a small gang of juvenile delinquents, who specialize in housebreaking and burglary. Howie is especially taken by charismatic leader Gary (Billy Kay, a former regular on The Guiding Light). One of the stronger portions of L.I.E. develops the homoerotic relationship between the two teens—one without sexual consummation even though Gary has been earning money as a male hustler, unknown to the naive Howie.

Forces combine to hook up young Howie with sleazy Big John (Cox), a wealthy gay middle-age pedophile who prowls the streets in his red Oldsmobile Cutlass in search of his next blow job. Had Cuesta chosen to portray Big John as a stereotypical bad guy, he wouldn't be as creepy. Instead, Big John moves through the community easily and is well-respected by the police and school. Big John becomes the first person to actually give Howie what he needs—a hot breakfast at a critical juncture, nonjudgmental communication, and some wise heartfelt advice.

Cox's portrayal is dead-on and elevates a pedestrian script to a much higher level. His facial expressions communicate his tortured "mama's boy" existence and one of L.I.E.'s finest scenes shows an anguished close-up as his young live-in roommate asks if he feels guilt after approaching 15-year-old Howie—"Every time. Every time!"

What is it with Jack Valenti's MPAA board? There is very little actual sex portrayed directly on the screen, the only scene being one with Howie's father banging his bimbo. An interview with Cuesta reveals that the MPAA won't even list specifics of items to cut to achieve an R rating. It's obvious the MPAA board has issues with homosexual pedophilia. Had Big John been lusting after Lolita, L.I.E. could have received the respectable R rating—but, as Todd Solondz discovered with Happiness, any film involving pedophilia with young charges named Gary or Howie will receive the MPAA board NC-17 "kiss of death" rating (as they avert their eyes). And it doesn't matter that no sexual scenes are explicitly shown—just the thought brings automatic condemnation.

Do the MPAA think they are protecting young boys by making it difficult for them to see a realistic pedophile? Do they believe real peds appear as easily recognizable monsters whose behavior and appearance can be defined in black and white? How the heck could any actual pedophile charm a victim into trusting him if he didn't possess some of the positive qualities Big John illustrates so well in L.I.E.?

Michael Cuesta's coming-of-age formula film ends up predictably and has a horribly lazy ending that should satisfy no one. However, L.I.E. deserves to be seen for the incredibly subtle performances of the two male leads—Paul Franklin Dano's remarkable portrayal of a troubled and confused teen and Brian Cox's depiction of a sensitive and conflicted adult predator. Cox deserves an Oscar nod, but don't expect it to happen. Mainstream Academy voters hardly ever show any more courage than the MPAA board.