The Mighty

The Mighty (1998) is an American coming-of-age drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Peter Chelsom and based on Rodman Philbrick's novel. Elden Henson plays Max, a large, slow-reading teenager who keeps to himself; Kieran Culkin is Kevin, the sharp-tongued new kid next door who happens to have a degenerative condition that keeps him small.

Neither boy fits in at school. Kevin fills his head with Arthurian legends, Max absorbs the punches. When Kevin climbs onto Max's shoulders and the two move through the world as one — they call themselves Freak the Mighty — something shifts. It's not a metaphor for overcoming disability so much as a genuine portrait of what it means to find one person who makes you feel less alone.

Sharon Stone plays Max's mother, James Gandolfini his threatening father, and Harry Dean Stanton and Gena Rowlands round out the family as the grandparents raising him. The cast earns the film's emotional weight, which it never tries to sweeten away. Stream The Mighty (1998) in full online on iFILM.