Good concept, poorly executed.

Expected more

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I admittedly loved this mostly for the use of German and the German feel, as I used to live as an expat in Germany, and my daughter was young there. I enjoyed the father-son relationship and seeing the boy struggle with who he was and how he felt about the girl.

13 year old Morris Gentry is the new kid in his Heidelberg, Germany school. He likes to rap with his soccer coach widower father Curtis (Craig Robinson). Father and son struggle to make new friends. Morris speaks limited German and has private lessons with Inka. Classmate Katrin takes a liking to him but he gets picked on by the bullies. She volunteers him to rap in the school talent show which only exacerbates his teacher's dislike. He gets pulled into her world of drugs and parties.Markees Christmas is a young amateur in the lead role. There's a quiet charisma about him. The story is pretty simple. There is a healthy dose of subtle racism and it's your basic White Girl Siren. Craig Robinson surprises me with a bit of German although he's not doing really big acting. It's a nice solid coming-of-age story.

Review: I quite enjoyed this simple but entertaining movie, which is based on an American thirteen year old, Morris Gentry (Markees Christmas), who lives with his single dad, Curtis (Craig Robinson), in Germany, after losing his mum. With his dad teaching football, Morris is taught German on a daily basis, and his tutor recommends a summer school, so he can meet other teenagers and make some friends. Although he is the only black student in the school, he soon becomes friends with a young girl called Katrin, (Lina Keller), who leads him up the wrong path, and has a boyfriend. He teaches her about rap music, and she takes him to some wild parties, behind his dad's back. Katrin then pushes him to rap at a talent competition, and his adult language gets Morris kicked out of the school. With his dad away, Morris goes to another wild party with Katrin and a few of her friends, and after an alteration with her boyfriend, he becomes stranded in the middle of nowhere, so he calls his tutor for help, who calls his dad against his wishes. Its quite a simple tale but it's one that every teenager can relate to. The acting is pretty average from the whole cast but the relationship between Curtis and Morris is quite sweet, even though Morris finds it hard to be honest, because of his love for Katrin. Its not the type of movie that will become a worldwide hit but it's a good insight into how difficult it is, for different cultures to mix. Average!Round-Up: This movie was directed by Chad Hartigan, 35, who also brought you All The Stage Is A World, Date and This Is Martin Bonner. I personally haven't heard of them films before, so this is the first movie that I have seen from this director. He certainly got the most out of Markees, in his first feature film, and he showed a different side to Craig Robinson, who is known for his comedic roles but the film is pretty small in scale and it didn't get wide distribution. Its a shame that this movie will go under the radar because I have seen worse, in this genre.Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $100,000 (Terrible)I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedy/romance/dramas, starring Craig Robinson, Markees Christmas, Carla Juri, Patrick Guldenberg and Lina Keller. 5/10

I do not understand why this movie is getting such a low rating when it easily deserves more.Usually when I watch a "coming of age" movie I immediately see what the outcome will be, they mostly go along the same line but with Morris from America I didn't get that. What I got was much better. Albeit some missing plot holes but nothing that hurt the over all story.The movie gives you that coming of age story without the tacky, over played scenarios. Where those movies fail, this movie excels. I never got that feeling. The feeling of a fairy tale life for lack of a better term. It's funny, nostalgic, romantic, emotional, entertaining but over all, it feels REAL.I have never seen Craig Robertson (Curtis) play this type of role and I am happy I did because he did very well, especially with a cast full of rookies. I hope to see more of this from him in the future. Markees Christmas was surprisingly good but I could not end this without saying something about Lina Keller and Carla Juri.. They both played their roles flawlessly and Keller's role was not an easy one.Definitely give this a watch, it is obviously not of the same caliber as The Breakfast Club but it does entertain. I am sure you will not be disappointed.