There are a few moments when the picture's easygoing pace turns into wobbliness, but these are insignificant compared with its many moments of shrewd insight into the lives of amusingly shaded but very recognizable human beings.
Breaking Away
The movie that tells you exactly what you can do with your high school diploma!
1979 · 1h 41m · PG
Comedy, Drama
Directed by
Peter Yates
Overview
Dave, nineteen, has just graduated high school, with his three friends: the comical Cyril, the warm hearted but short-tempered Moocher, and the athletic, spiteful but good-hearted Mike. Now, Dave enjoys racing bikes and hopes to race the Italians one day, and even takes up the Italian culture, much to his friends' and parents' annoyance.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
Peter Yates, previously typed as an action director, lends the film a fine, unexpected limpidity, and the principals are mostly excellent.
Breaking Away is a wonderfully sunny, funny, goofy, intelligent movie that makes you feel about as good as any movie in a long time. It is, in fact, a treasure.
Here is a movie so fresh and funny it didn't even need a big budget or a pedigree.
Though its plot wins no points for originality, Breaking Away is a thoroughly delightful light comedy.
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