Inside the lives of ‘Altar Boys’

“The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys”

Kieran Culkin, Emile Hirsch

Columbia TriStar, $28

This is an offbeat and thought-provoking coming-of-age story based on the novel by the late Chris Furhman about the friendship between two Catholic schoolboys (Culkin and Hirsch) who are always causing mischief. Their lives take a tragic turn when they steal a statute of the Virgin Mary from the school.

The decent DVD includes an “Anatomy of a Scene” episode from the Sundance Channel series, interviews with the cast and filmmakers, deleted scenes, interesting commentary from Todd McFarlane on the animation scenes, and breezy commentary with director Peter Care and writer Jeff Stockwell.

*

“Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood”

Sandra Bullock and Ellen Burstyn

Warner Home Video, $23 for VHS; $27 for DVD

Callie Khouri, who won an Oscar in 1991 for her screenplay for “Thelma & Louise,” made her directorial debut with this “women’s picture” based on Rebecca Wells’ best-selling novel about the bonds between female friends and mothers and daughters. It boasts some engaging performances from Burstyn, Bullock, Maggie Smith, Shirley Knight and Ashley Judd. But Khouri doesn’t seem to know when to end scenes, so the film is overlong and labored.

The digital edition is available in wide- and full-screen and features additional scenes, a documentary on the “page-to-screen journey” and an interactive scrapbook featuring clips from the film and interviews with the actresses talking about their characters. The disc also features two passable commentaries: one with Khouri and Judd, the other with Khouri, producers Bonnie Bruckheimer and Hunt Lowry, executive producer Lisa Stewart, editor Andrew Marcus and composer T-Bone Burnett.