Childstar

I just couldn't get into this. Don McKellar, who I've never heard of before, just looked like he was doing an impersonation of Peter Sellers. His deadpan approach was a leaden hand over the whole film. Every line he delivered fell flat on the ground, as in a vacuum. There was something eerily compelling about him though, I couldn't take my eyes off him - or maybe it was just that cardigan he wore under his jacket the whole time.

The storyline might have not invited criticism were it not for the fact that we were subjected to two excruciating moral lessons at the end (on parentalism and on the childstar issue). Mmm, thanks, I so need to be preached at - NOT.

Unfortunately, Taylor Brandon Burns wasdislikable even when he wasn't supposed to be, and his blonde girlfriend character was just a cardboard cut-out. How were we supposed to care?

Well, we were all probably there looking for laughs, not philosophy. Problem is the laughs just weren't there. It was all vaguely depressing.

How much I enjoyed this film surprised me. (I saw it at the Philadelphia Film Festival the day after I saw "Checking Out" with Peter Falk. So—that's saying a lot.)

"Childstar" is a droll send-up of fawning over child stars in our culture, and of being a person low on the film industry totem pole. There is a lot of clever, well-produced stuff in this film. My only negative comment is that too much seems to have been directly lifted from an episode of The Nanny, "When You Pish Upon a Star."

I will go to see any film with Jennifer Jason Leigh. Her arc seems to be like that of Geneviève Bujold before her. Leigh seems to have managed to be in a lower proportion of turkeys than Bujold, so far. Her performance this time worked for me.

Likewise the performance of Don McKellar in his own film was just fine. More power to him!

Disappointing follow-up to McKellar's sublime "Last Night" (one of my favorite films of all time) and "Red Violin", this film is about an obnoxious child actor in the mold of Haley Joel Osment, his equally obnoxious stage mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and the hapless indie filmmaker-turned-chauffeur (McKellar) who is assigned to baby-sit them. Minor hilarity ensues from the cross-border (US/Canadian) cultural confrontations and the underage star's affectation of adult nonchalance and knowledge, but not enough to rescue the film, or the viewer. I cannot imagine what possessed the wondrously gifted McKellar to consider such a banal theme. Please regard this as my personal plea to Don McKellar to return to writing and making films of the caliber of "32 Short Films about Glen Gould", "Last Night", and Red Violin".

Don Mckellar is a comic genius, as long as dry wit with an accent is your kind of laugh-a-thon. It is mine, so I loved this movie.

Mckellar plays an endearing character who has just divorced the love of his life, for whom he has shot an independent film which has no backing as his on film love letter equates romantic love to ADHD images erratically juxtaposed against the nature. Since he has to put peanut butter on his bread, he begins working as a driver for a film being shot in his hometown. Thus, Mckellar's character meets 12 year old Taylor Bradford Burns, a teenage star whose fame is hanging on his ability to maintain "adorableness as a child" and thus, his film company and agents are pushing him to do another film whether it's worth doing or not (which is certainly debatable) before his "voice changes".

Jennifer Jason Leigh is exquisite as always in her cooler than ever way, as the mother of the child. She's just looking to "take care of Taylor" the best way she knows how - which includes getting him the largest salary possible, living in the poshest house the studio will foot the bill for, and ensuring that he has "a male role model" by turning her responsibilities over to the first available and passably attractive guy she runs into --- who is of course, our newbie driver.

It's a fun movie. Taylor Bradford Burns is played by a young man who is straddling the line between youth and a teenager with more experience than anyone under 18 should have. Worth renting. Enjoy it with popcorn.

THis movie was comic genius, and is my favorite Canadian movie ever, Finally someone has made a film that manages to be thoughtful and funny at the same time. All of my friends loved it too, though some of them thought the ending was a bit incomplete. I disagree! It was fun, and touching, and never schlocky or stupid. And Don McKellar is hilarious! In fact, most of the actors were great, including the young boy (I forget his name) who plays the kid. I guess, as a Canadian, the film makes more sense. I hope Don Mckellar keeps making strange films like this and Last Night (his first one) because no one else is doing anything this interesting AND accessible, with the possible exception of Guy Maddin's last movie.