It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Seriously one of the most monotonous and depressing movies ever. So monstrously long and just all around awful. Basically the only highlight being that the acting was generally solid, but again, nothing earth-shattering. Save yourself 2 hours better spent elsewhere.

The horse gets hit by a car and dies! Awful! So awful that I lost interest in the kid, and fast-forwarded till the ending. If you're a horse lover, don't watch this movie.

I don't know what lawyers say after watching a movie about lawyering. The same goes for cops and cop movies. Or doctors and doctor movies. Well I'm a lifelong horseman whose been in the racing game nearly my whole life and my take on "Lean on Pete" is somewhat mixed. The general goings on you see at the track and the people who own and handle the horses was pretty authentic. But the actual namesake of the whole production was lame as it could be possibly be. First of all running quarter horses don't look anything like LOP ...HAHA I mean this animal had a gut like Sumo wrestler and a butt like a house cat. Real running QH's look like bulldogs, (for lack of a better animal to fit the description) Then when the kid steals the horse and sets out alone on a mission to save him from the butcher shop, was REALLY STUPID. But then maybe it could happen at that. But the people who are both horse people and those who aren't was very much like any a*****e you'll see anywhere in the world.

Horse racing in Portland? Sure. That is akin to cattle farming in Alaska, or snowplowing in New Mexico. This movie was written and directed by British people who know nothing about Portland Oregon. Horse farming in Portland is niche and is solely owned/operated by families... people do not move to Portland to care for horses. They might move to outlying areas in Oregon and hope to be able to work on a farm with migrant workers for less than minimum wage, but they don't do what this story implies. Another example of a great story being filmed in a city where the inhabitants are so in love with themselves that they rate anything filmed in the city 110%, especially if it sucks.Now I'm not saying the movie is horrible... I'm just saying that this is a British film, screened in British/European film festivals with Australian and British actors (and friends of Buschemi from Boardwalk Empire) and that one chick from Kids, that is filmed in Portland Oregon where a story like this would never ever take place, by people who don't know anything about the region geographically or culturally. And simply because the film takes place in Portland Oregon all of the Hollywood elitists and liberals couldn't possibly do anything less than rate this movie a 7+/10.Just because the book is good, the story is good, a couple of the actors are good, and the city is favored by the people who attend film festivals, does not mean that the movie is good. If you set your story somewhere that is not realistic, then you can't expect your story to be taken seriously. Especially 7+/10 seriously. I give it a 5. And I'm sure that it will be closer to that within a few years when the hyped-up ratings die down.