The Real Howard Spitz

I'd be the first to admit that, at times, this had a preety corny storyline. Some of the jokes are predictable, and some scenes seem longer then they had to be.

But, taking these minor points away, you have a great film.

The acting from the adult cast was acceptable (except from kelsey grammar, who, as in all his roles, played it perfectly). The acting from the child cast was remarkable. I could only name you one GOOD child star (And i'm definitely not talking about Mary Kate or Ashley...) but after watching this, i may have to change my outlook that all child screen actors are hopeless.

This is a great film...there are no explosions, hardly any swearing, and the death scene was strangely cut out...so you can see why this may not have been well received. This isn't a life altering film, but i like it anyway...

This is a very nice film, narrating the story of an author, Howard Spitz, who's in need of a success. When he meets little Samantha by chance, they both realize they need each other. He needs her to help him create a successful children's book; she wants him to find her runaway father.

The story develops with Howard trying to become a celebrated author without leaving the comfortable emotional reclusion he got himself into over the years, and Samantha trying more and more desperately to reach her father.

The story is nice, and the idea behind it is great. Unfortunately, the turning-point scene at the end fails. Another weak point is that writer and/or director give the minor characters far too little room to develop, even though everyone knows how much minor characters contribute to films. But Grammar alone is worth the money. His brilliant acting keeps the film well above average - in fact, standing alone, Grammar's perfect portrayal of Howard Spitz would probably deserve a 10-out-of-10 rating.

A very original, iconoclastic comedy about a failed pulp fiction writer (Kelsey Grammer) who tries to make it big in the kiddie book business. He enlists the help of a precocious little girl (Genevieve Tessier) and falls in love with her mother (Amanda Donohoe). Grammer and Tessier have great chemistry together, and the little moppet steals every scene she's in. An amazing mixture of odd-ball satire and warm sentimentality, this is a minor gem that seems to have fallen between the cracks of the film distribution system.

This is a family movie that was broadcast on my local ITV station at 1.00 am a couple of nights ago . This might be a strange decision on the part of the schedulers but THE REAL HOWARD SPITZ is a rather strange film , strange in the way it doesn't want to upset its audience . Come on there's nothing kids like more than sadism and that's why Roald Dahl was such a popular author for children . It also explains why DOCTOR WHO was such a successful show across the world . In this screenplay you're just dying for pulp fiction author to do something nasty to the kids but this doesn't happen . I'm not advocating child abuse but to see Howard Spitz lose his rag at the little ones would have made the movie rather better . Can you imagine how much worse KINDERGARTEN COP would have been if the producers had gone all PC ? I mean if you're making a movie centered around a children's author who hates children shouldn't the story show and not tell ?

Much of the problem lies with director Vadim Jean and you do get the feeling he doesn't know how to handle the material which is bad news for the movie . As someone previously noted the soundtrack is haphazard and Kelsey Grammar is very wooden . I guess he was trying to play it dead pan just like in that show he's famous for but it fails to work here and there's many scenes with quiet ridiculous camera angles which seem unintentional but which are very distracting . But at the end of the day the main problem remains that the potential is ruined because no one wanted to offend the audiences sensibilities

I'm not really sure what the point of this was but to be fair it is watchable in a mildly amusing sort of way. Kelsey Grammar is a down-on-his-luck alcoholic who dresses up as a children's TV cow (a la Barney), and in the process begins a friendship with a young girl which he never expected.

I rented this movie years ago and enjoyed it for what it was. It's not totally offensive (although some of the innuendo and not-so-subtle sex jokes involving cows and teets might turn off parents from letting their kids watch it) and Kelsey Grammar is always pretty funny.

However in the long run I felt as though filmmaker Vadim Jean (whom I've had the pleasure of speaking to and is a really nice guy) didn't really know where to go with the script, it's a mix between adult drama and children's comedy and in that regard it's a mixed bag.

Still worth watching if you get a chance, though.