The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys is a 2002 independent comedy-drama film directed by Peter Care and based on a 1994 semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel by Chris Fuhrman. The film stars Emile Hirsch, Kieran Culkin, Jena Malone, Jodie Foster, and Vincent D'Onofrio. The film is about a group of Catholic school friends in the Southern United States in the 1970s who engage in a series of pranks and general mischief. The boys also collaborate on a comic book they call The Atomic Trinity. Interspersed within the film are segments of animated footage based on the comic book. Fuhrman died of cancer before completing the final revision of the novel. The film is dedicated to his memory.