Row Your Boat is a drama that mesmerizes you until it breaks your heart at the end. It is charming and downright cute, with levity thrown in here and there. But it is still a heartbreaker.

Jamey Meadows (Jon Bon Jovi) took the rap and went to prison for his brother's crime. His brother, Gil (William Forsythe), never even came to visit him. Now, Jamey's out and he's determined to go straight and earn his way with a legit job.

Jamey finds life in the streets of New York City to be much harder than he expected. His job as a census taker pays only enough to get by, and he cannot afford the deposits to get a place to live. Meanwhile, Gil has managed to get $50,000 in debt to the worst Chinese mafioso in the city, Tony Lo Fat (Peter Kwong). If Gil doesn't pay the money within one week, Tony is going to kill his girlfriend.

Jamey's job takes him into the home of a wealthy Chinese businessman, where he immediately falls in love with the man's unhappy, young wife, Chun Lua (Bai Ling). Then Gil comes along and cons him into taking Chun's keys so Gil can rob their home. But when he gets inside, there is nothing of value in the home ... except Chun's baby. Gil takes him.

I won't tell you more. You have to watch it to learn what happens. I will tell you that you won't out-think this one. It has a twist. It is a finely crafted script with the right actors to bring the characters to complete life with all the individual idiosyncrasies that make people interesting. The casting is ideal.

This movie pulls you in so deeply that you will have a hard time tearing your gaze away from the screen for the briefest time. You become so caught up in the story that time just flies by and it seems like it's only been a few minutes when you come to the end. These are characters that you care about and you have to know what's going to happen next.

The acting is great. Forsythe will make you despise him so badly that you'll want to throw a shoe at the television each time he appears. What a jerk! That's some serious acting when you can elicit that type of response from your viewers. Bon Jovi does a fine job with his lead role and is exactly what you expect his character to be. That must mean he is convincing. And Bai Ling is just too precious! She charms you to the point that you'll believe whatever she throws at you, though she does provide a powerful performance.

The photography is really good throughout this movie, especially during the major action scene near the end. There are a few special effects in that scene and they look good, though you won't see anything that isn't run-of-the-mill and found in dozens of other movies. It's just an average action scene.

Row Your Boat is an exquisite movie. It belongs in the drama section of every serious movie buff's collection.