Review: ‘Morris From America’ delivers refreshing take on teen angst

Putting a fresh slant on adolescent growing pains without quite breaking new ground, “Morris From America” revolves around a black American teen transplanted to Germany by his widowed dad. Much like the father-son bond at its center, the comic drama is warmhearted but never cloying. Comedy vet Craig Robinson (“The Office”) and newcomer Markees Christmas bring an engaging honesty to characters navigating new emotional territory, separately and together.

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In Heidelberg, the recently relocated Curtis is a professional soccer coach with no close friends, while 13-year-old Morris is something of a novelty among his provincial classmates. Writer-director Chad Hartigan mines the cultural disconnect only so far, more concerned with unvarnished slice-of-life observation.

In another coming-of-age movie, the phrase “youth center talent show” would herald a climactic crowd-pleaser of a scene, but Hartigan has less predictable, more open-ended adventures in store for Morris, a bedroom-mirror rapper whose sex-themed rhymes belie his inexperience. Katrin (Lina Keller), the 15-year-old he falls for, at first seems the embodiment of mean-girl flirtation, but the screenplay reveals something genuine behind her goading.

The film, unfortunately, hasn’t the intensity or restraint of Hartigan’s previous fish-out-of-water feature, “This Is Martin Bonner.” But it does have Christmas’ unforced performance and the ache in Robinson’s voice, at once gruff and pleading. Curtis understands his son’s need to test boundaries as much as his own responsibility to protect him. Robinson makes this single dad’s loneliness plain. Morris isn’t the only one on the cusp.

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‘Morris From America’

MPAA rating: R, for teen drug use and partying, sexual material, brief nudity, and language throughout.

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Playing: ArcLight Hollywood