As a piece of sociology, Antwone Fisher is fascinating, laudable and perhaps even overdue - a movie that looks at the emotional cost paid by the offspring of absentee parents, children who grow up not knowing who they are or how they fit in.

If ever a movie could get by on good intentions alone, it would be this one. And it almost makes it, thanks to its talented cast and hard-fought - if occasionally ham-fisted - honesty.

There's too much going on in and around this film not to be impressed by what director Denzel Washington accomplishes with a script written by the real Antwone Fisher. That includes the story surrounding the film, how Fisher was working as a security guard at Sony Pictures studios when his story came to the attention of producer Todd Black, and how the two of them worked together for a year, getting the story down on paper, even as Fisher was living some of the events that would end up on-screen.

With a hair-trigger temper and a bullheaded determination to set his own path, naval seaman Antwone Fisher (confident newcomer Derek Luke) is firmly ensconced as his own worst enemy. After getting in yet another fight with his shipmates, and being busted down in rank yet again, he's sent to Navy psychiatrist Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington) for one last try at reclamation.

Fisher proves a tough case; for the first several meetings, he refuses to talk. But Davenport is willing to ride out his patient's petulance. Eventually, the facade begins to crack, and the details of Fisher's life begin to emerge. And there is no shortage of sources for his rage.

Born in jail to a mother he never knew, the child of a father murdered before he was born, Fisher grew up in a foster home straight out of Hades. His foster mother, a preacher's wife, beat and berated and otherwise abused him constantly, even turning a blind eye when another woman living in the house molested him repeatedly.

Given what he was up against, it's a testament to Fisher's inner strength and resiliency that he's made it this far. But his psychological peril, as Davenport realizes, is acute: The only family life Antwone has known is one that could charitably be referred to as decadent, and the idea that he may be doomed to follow the same path scares him in ways most of us can only imagine.

Davenport, who senses something in Fisher worth salvaging, urges him to return home to Cleveland and try to find his birth family. At first, Antwone resists. But then his ever-patient and relentlessly optimistic girlfriend, Cheryl (another newcomer, the serenely beautiful Joy Bryant), urges him on as well. Soon, Antwone's voyage of discovery is under way.

Washington's work with his actors is nothing short of astounding. Luke, who was working in the Sony Pictures gift shop before landing this role, puts flesh on Fisher's bones. He's not just an angry young man, but a charismatic, strong-willed, arrested adolescent oozing with untapped potential. Antwone's a sympathetic character from the start, but Luke is never satisfied to go for sympathy alone. His Fisher is, by turns, ingratiating, infuriating and unforgettable. Bryant, too, brings layers to a character that could have easily been one-dimensional, the inspirational, ever-faithful girlfriend. She's all that, of course, but there's an edge to Cheryl that makes her a match for Antwone's obstinance.

But Washington, who turns in his usual solid performance as the psychiatrist, treads on less-firm ground as the director. His treatment of the story tries to weave together too many plot threads. That's especially true of a puzzling, and ultimately unnecessary, sub-plot in which Davenport and his wife seem to be having some problems with their own marriage. It's not until the movie's final few minutes that we're let in on what that problem is, and throwing it into the film's mix serves only to distract from its powerful message. A more experienced director would have tossed it out entirely.

If Antwone Fisher suffers from anything, it's a lack of seasoning. If only all those first-time filmmakers had let the story distill a bit longer, had employed a somewhat lighter touch and allowed the story to stand on its own. Antwone Fisher is a good film that, with a little extra care, could have been great.

Sun score: ***

Antwone Fisher

Starring Derek Luke, Denzel Washington, Joy Bryant

Directed by Denzel Washington

Released by Fox Searchlight Pictures

Rated PG-13 (Language, adult situations)

Time 117 minutes