A story of four orphan teenagers growing up behind the closed doors of a catholic convent in outback Australia. For years the boys watch the younger orphaned kids leave with their newly adopted parents, and have finally come to the realization their time may never come. The Reverend Mother gives the boys something to look forward to by sending them to visit the seaside for the first time. Their long awaited vacation doesn't turn out the way they planned until they meet Teresa and Fearless, a young autocratic couple who would make the perfect parents. Now as grown men, they reflect back on the '60s when, as boys, they spent their first tumultuous summer by the sea, as they sabotaged each other's efforts to be the 'chosen one'--only to discover that the real meaning behind what it is to be a family. - skip ad - Genres: Art/Foreign, Drama, Kids/Family and Adaptation Running Time: 1 hr. 45 min. Release Date: September 14th, 2007 (limited) MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, nudity, underage drinking and smoking. Distributor: Warner Independent Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures International Cast And Credits Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Teresa Palmer, Christian Byers, Lee Cormie, James Fraser Directed by: Rod Hardy, Chris Langman, Ric Beecroft Produced by: Hal Gaba, Jonathan Shteinman, Richard Becker

In “December Boys,” Daniel Radcliffe takes a holiday from Harry Potter to play another orphan, this time of the Muggle variety. Too bad his destination is a coming-of-age tale so treacly it doesn’t just tug your heartstrings, it attempts to glue them to your ribs.

As Maps, one of four boys who share a December birthday and the hospitality of a Catholic orphanage in the Australian outback, Mr. Radcliffe may be audience bait but he’s not the film’s fulcrum. That would be Misty (Lee Cormie), a bespectacled dreamer who longs for parents and discovers potential candidates when the boys receive the unexpected gift of a seaside vacation.

While Maps learns about sex, ciggies and Creedence Clearwater Revival from the local wild child (Teresa Palmer), his buddies vie to be adopted by a fairground worker and his seductive wife (Sullivan Stapleton and Victoria Hill). But when the inevitable tragedy strikes — in the form of death, abandonment and a clay-footed hero — its emotional heft is diluted by a screenplay (by Marc Rosenberg, working from Michael Noonan’s novel) mired in fantasy. As cartwheeling nuns frolic on the sand and visions of the Virgin Mary glow beneath the waves, the movie congeals into a soggy, symbolic mess.

As for Mr. Radcliffe, his acting is fine. It’s his career planning that needs some work.

“December Boys” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). The boys moon the camera, peep at naked women and enjoy a variety of under-age activities.