THE EMPEROR'S CLUB

Adapted from Ethan Canin’s short story ”The Palace Thief” and set in an all-boys prep school in 1972, this traditionally dressed, old-fashioned drama starring Kevin Kline is as much about the moral development of the adult as it is about his boys’. More so, maybe. Kline does a welcome, restrained job as a prof whose ambivalent relationship with his own successful father shades his teacherly relationship with a senator’s kid. Emile Hirsch makes an excellent son of privilege, and Harris Yulin channels the chutzpah of LBJ to steal scenes as a senator for whom ethics are frills for sissies.