MOVIE

Raising Victor Vargas

4.4
(30)
Rating
R
Duration
1h 28m
Year
2003
Language
English

About

It's summer in New York's Lower East Side, and Victor Vargas is enjoying the golden period of adolescence. Living in a cramped apartment with his grandmother, brother and sister, he thinks he's the greatest ladies man his neighborhood has ever seen. But when word gets out that he's sleeping with an overweight, unpopular girl he finds himself in danger of becoming the laughing stock of the neighborhood. Victor sets his sights on "Juicy Judy Ramirez," the most beautiful girl on the Lower East Side in an effort to save his reputation. Setting out to earn her affections amidst fierce neighborhood competition, Victor employs the help of her younger brother Carlos to gain an inside track. His plan proves successful as Judy accepts him as "her new man." And with this news, Victor's place high atop the neighborhood's social pecking order seems secure. But as Victor's head swells to pop star proportion, he fails to ask himself a key question: "Why would the most popular girl in the neighborhood choose me?" As Judy's motivation becomes clear, Victor learns the difference between acting like a man and being one.

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Reviews

"It's the kind of movie you know you can trust, and you give yourself over to affection for these characters who are so lovingly observed."
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
"The flow, and the gentle art, of "Raising Victor Vargas" is there in the way that Victor's need to grow up begins to dawn on him without ever announcing itself."
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"If that were all the film was about, it'd be a wonderful story about teenagers in love. But Sollett fleshes out the tale by filling the screen with gorgeous, revealing details."
Ernest Hardy, LA Weekly

Extended Details

  • Closed CaptionsEnglish

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