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Jamesy Boy is a 2014 American biographical Crime film drama film directed by Trevor White and written by White and Lane Shadgett. The film stars Spencer Lofranco, Mary-Louise Parker, Taissa Farmiga, Ving Rhames, and James Woods. It tells the true story of ex-convict James Burns. The film was released in North America on January 3, 2014 through video on demand, and in a limited theatrical release on January 17, 2014 by Phase 4 Films.
James meets Roc and becomes his getaway driver for an armed robbery. However, Roc and his partner Drew are ambushed and held at gunpoint, but James sneaks inside and saves them. Impressed, Roc accepts James as a member of his crew. Crystal seduces James, who soon also meets Sarah, a timid cashier whose father owns a local convenience store. At a strip club, James and Drew burst into the back office to retrieve owed money for Roc, but it goes awry when they are subdued and beaten by the bouncers. In the parking lot, James breaks into the man's vehicle and steals a duffel bag full of guns. Roc is furious and demands that James fix his mistake. James and Crystal have a fight, and he leaves her.
Meanwhile, James befriends Sarah and begins a relationship with her. He tries to leave Roc's crew, but Roc guilt trips him into selling the guns before he does. James and Drew meet another crew to sell the guns, but the exchange goes wrong, resulting in a shootout. The police arrive while James and Drew escape. James escapes to Sarah's house and tells her to pack so they can leave together, but she refuses. The police arrest James soon after.
In prison, James makes an enemy in Guillermo, who picks on a new inmate, Chris Cesario. Later, Guillermo's prison gang attempts to shiv James in the shower; during the fight, Chris is stabbed instead. James has nightmares from the incident and takes up poetry in order to block out prison. James attempts to befriend a lifelong inmate named Conrad, but is rebuffed. Concerned for Chris' safety, James asks correctional officer Lieutenant Falton to place Chris in protective custody until his release hearing, but Falton refuses. Guillermo confronts James in the prison yard and attempts to provoke him, but James refuses to fight. Impressed, Conrad offers James advice for bettering himself.
Chris hangs himself in the hallway after getting another six years on his sentence. James attacks Guillermo and accidentally strikes Falton; he is subsequently placed in solitary confinement. Later, James starts a fight in the yard, but Conrad breaks it up and threatens James, demanding he keep calm and await his parole hearing.
At his hearing, James admits regret over Chris' death and his past decisions; he is subsequently released from prison and gets a job as a motel clerk. One night, an old acquaintance comes by and offers him some work, but he turns it down. Arriving at Sarah's convenience store, he finds it boarded up. He goes to Sarah's house, but her father says she has moved out. He finds her at a new house that she shares with her fiancé. At Sarah's request, he recites some of his poetry for her. James continues working and saves money in an envelope labeled "New York City".
Martin Tsai of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The core of Jamesy Boy – a juvenile delinquent's inside-the-pen coming of age – follows a too-familiar trajectory: Due to the toxic mix of broken family and corruptive friends, James Burns (Spencer Lofranco) has already earned a tracking device on his ankle and an impressive rap sheet boasting robbery, vandalism, assault and firearm possession." David Hiltbrand of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, writing, "For an independent film, Jamesy Boy has a distinguished cast, including Ving Rhames, Mary-Louise Parker, and James Woods. But it's an unknown, Spencer Lofranco, who makes this gritty chronicle, based on a true story, so memorable... For such a seriously street film, Jamesy Boy has some surprisingly sappy moments. But the redemptive ending, while thin, is genuinely gratifying." The Hollywood Reporter critic John DeFore wrote, "A true story of a young con who turned his life around, Trevor White's Jamesy Boy wants very much to be inspirational. But nothing the first-time helmer tries – not casting big names in small parts, not scrambling the timeline, not casting a newcomer (Spencer Lofranco) whose swept-back coif recalls James Dean (even if nothing else about him does) – can keep the tale from feeling like one cribbed from a score of other second-chance films. Commercial prospects are dim despite the marquee-worthy supporting cast."
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