Review of The Battle of Shaker Heights (2003) by Joe S — 19 Jan 2012

"A funny thing just happened to me. I thought you were dead on the couch.".

When you're 17, every day is war. With all the difficulties in his real life Kelly Ernsweiler finds himself in fantasy reenactments of World War II battles as his one true escape. He then strikes up in an unlikely friendship with a fellow reenactor, and Kelly's life is set to explode in ways he never expected! Released on August 22, 2003, 'The Battle Of Shaker Heights' was directed by Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin and spun off from the HBO series 'Project Greenlight'. I only checked out this film for Shia LaBeouf, who did a really fine acting performance with his troubled personality that proved himself as an actor playing a war reenactor. His Even Stevens days now behind him, Shia also did Holes around the same time and was only years away from 'Transformers' that would make him more famous. And though I felt mostly drama throughout a fresh, original storyline it was in some ways funny even for a short running time of 79 minutes. Overall, I found this title great and would recommend it for the LaBeouf fans.