Yes, this didn't seem like his style. "Sneakers" also wasn't but a bit more adult.
This was an 80s teen movie, nothing more or less. An adult involving a teen in espionage and murder would be ridiculous.
The parents were undercover for 20 years but didn't hvae believable birthdates? They were terrible spies and amazing they weren't eliminated before the movie issue even came about.
So many movies felt like this in the '80s, this kind of cheesy. Soooooooo many... And, as an actor, you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell it from the script.
And then the final product turns out like this did (or much worse).
Also, it's obvious something was left on the cutting room floor because the film's wrap up becomes incoherent. It's a mess, to be sure.
Still, just having Poitier and Phoenix in the same film is notable.
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The most profound of sin is tragedy unremembered.
At least it showed him in bed with a woman. In most of his early movies he was never allowed to have a romance. In one he had to tell a beautiful blonde in a sandals and sand flick that he had taken a vow of chastity for a year. In another movie the writers wanted to have him castrated.
I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else