Arts
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At The Movies
`Tadpole'
Live Entertainment:
Coming-of-age film wins the hearts of viewers.
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Sunday 12:00-9:30
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(2 blocks north of McNichols)
Detroit
(313) 865 -0331
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Quirky comedy "The Royal Tenenbaums" offers worthwhile bonus supplements.
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Just South of 14 Mile • 248-855-4866
4724'
7/26
2002
86
2002-2003
SOURCEBOOK
coming soon!
Anderson, who also directed the acclaimed Rushmore, is an
acquired
taste. If you are going to acquire the taste, try this one.
Copley News Service
He tells the tale of an urban family living the life of luxu-
ry and achievement. Presumably set in Manhattan, nothing
rom the fertile and zany minds of Wes Anderson
in the city seems quite the way it's supposed to be; it's a sur-
It's
The
Royal
Tenenbaums.
and Owen Wilson comes
real look. That's the point of Anderson's vision, which is off-
not about royalty, but about a dysfunctional family.
beat and a bit gothic.
Royal is the first name of the half-Jewish
Hackman, as Royal, is shady and disreputable even in his
father, played to aggravating perfection by Gene Hackman.
glory days. When he leaves the family, things more or less
This dad is selfish, cruel, dishonest and unloving.
fall apart, despite heroic efforts of Anjelica Huston who
Ultimately, he becomes a human being struggling with
plays the wife of Royal and mother to his three kids.
his failures. It is in the performance of Hackman that the
Her performance is too reminiscent of Morticia Addams
entertainment and the integrity of the film rest.
to take totally seriously until late in the film, another
Steven. H. Scheuer is the author of several books on television • Anderson sleight-of-hand.
Is this real or not? Is this dark humor or a cartoon strip
and movies. His wife and co-writer Alida Brill has written
on page 88
`TENENBAUMS'
and lectured widely on subjects ranging from the arts to politics.
STEVEN H. SCHEUER and ALIDA BRILL
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Celebrating
our
26th year!
No Hollywood flick would have the
guts to savor the character develop-
ment the way Tadpole does. It's an
ensemble cast and all the performances
are noteworthy. Bebe Neuwirth's hilar-
ious and sexy portrayal of Diane, Eve's
best friend, is dazzling: an outstanding
Something About Mary.
It's extraordinarily fun to watch
director
Gary Winick tease us with
ensitive teens often feel they
cinematic
cliches and then upturn
are more mature than their
them effortlessly. There's no mean-
peers. This is undoubtedly
ness here. And no condescension.
the case with the book-smart
What's more, we don't have
hero of Tadpole, this summer's
to cringe at our hero's behav-
most endearing comedy.
ior in order to find it gen-
The film's title refers to the
uinely funny.
nickname of the main character,
Shot on digital video for a
15-year-old Oscar Grubman. As
reported $500,000, Tadpole
brilliantly performed by newcom-
earned Winick the Best
er Aaron Stanford, who's actually
Dramatic Director award. at
a 25-year-old Rutgers University
this year's Sundance Film
graduate, the cynical and sophis-
Festival. Writers Heather
ticated Grubman has decided
McGowan and Niels Mueller,
that girls his own age "haven't
too, deserve notice for this
lived enough," and don't hold
clever Oedipal fable. While
any fascination for him.
paying delightful homage to
Grubman — who fantasizes
The Graduate, this new film
about the hands of more experi-
Aaron Stanford, left, as Oscar Grubman, discusses the
offers a certain charming and
enced women — feels far more at meaning of life with an incredulous friend in a scene
goofy quality reminiscent of
home in his father's (John Ritter)
from "Tadpole."
Woody
Allen's best work.
world of 40- and 50-something
is a carefully craft-
Tadpole
academics and intellectuals.
ed
and
lovingly
acted
film and my
example
of
flawless
comic
timing.
Grubman's boarding school buddy
pick for sleeper hit of the summer.
But what is most wonderful about
cannot fathom his lack of interest in
Don't miss it. ❑
Tadpole is the deft way the film flirts
girls. Instead of pursuing Miranda, a
with slapstick comedy — mistaken
flirtatious co-ed obviously smitten by
Tadpole opens Friday, July 26, at
Grubman's melancholy charisma, he has identities, chance encounters and
the
Main Theatre in Royal Oak.
glued-on
facial
hair
—
without
rely-
chosen a less attainable love. The object
(248)
542-0180.
ing
on
the
over-the-top
situational
of his affections is Eve (Sigourney
humor
of
recent
mainstream
films
Weaver), his own stepmother.
Special to the Jewish News