Liberty Heights

Barry Levinson (Diner, Tin Men, Avalon) has infused his fourth intimate, bittersweet trip down Baltimore memory lanes with the issues and distinctions of race, religion and class. A Jewish teen (Ben Foster) makes friends with an upper-class black girl (Rebekah Johnson) and has his loyalty tested. His college-age brother (Adrien Brody) learns that dream girl (Carolyn Murphy) and worst nightmare can describe the same date. Their father (Joe Mantegna) runs a numbers racket and a burlesque club, while their mother (Bebe Neuwirth) tries to keep ethnic tradition alive in the family. This lush, warmly detailed snapshot of 1954 gives us plenty to grin about and much to make us both feel and think.