BUSTED

Against his better judgment, a 12-year-old raised in a retirement community by his grandfather helps a 104-year-old resident sneak off to take care of some unfinished business.

Oscar Aberdeen has been strictly warned to steer clear of Jimmy Deluca, a new arrival with a shady past. But Pops can’t afford the new rent hike, and Oscar remembers advice from the late Guadalupe Montoya, one of his many senior surrogate grandparents: “Right and wrong can get confusing sometimes…So just do the good thing.” Between doing the right thing and doing the good thing, it’s always better to choose the latter. So when the irascible Jimmy promises big bucks in exchange for helping him run a few unspecified errands, Oscar overcomes his scruples, leading to a dizzying round of outrageous, life-altering predicaments and exploits. It’s a joy to watch Oscar learn to, at Jimmy’s insistent urging, “squeeze the orange” as they go. In quick succession, the bemused lad has a variety of rousing new experiences, from stealing back a stolen car to getting punched in the face. He also gets to deploy skills that are already in his wheelhouse, like playing cutthroat poker and sensitively comforting the dying. Gemeinhart kits out his reluctant but winningly resilient protagonist with a tragic backstory that adds nuance to his buttoned-up character, and the lively supporting cast includes more than a few seedy or hostile characters but no real villains. Characters largely present white.

An exuberant joyride.