Na Ponta dos Pés

YOU'LL PROBABLY NEVER SEE THIS MOVIE BUT IF BY CHANCE YOU MIGHT THEN YOU SHOULDN'T READ THIS BECAUSE IT GIVES AWAY THE PLOT-LINE, BUT YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T BELIEVE IT ANYWAY.

If I was going to look for an actor to play a sympathetic lead role of a dwarf for a straight-up drama about `little people,' naturally I would turn to Gary Oldman. Yes, that Gary Oldman. Dracula. The Devil. Pontius Pilate. Maybe 5'11'. I guess Al Pacino wasn't available.

This is a bizarre movie. Matthew McConaughey plays Oldman's brother (not a dwarf), so this Schwarzeneggar and Devito as Twins straight up. Both McConaughey and Kate Beckinsale turn in reasonable performances, as does Peter Dinklage. (As an aside, I think this guy is a terrific actor. In both this and Station Agent, soon into the movie I quit thinking about him as a dwarf.) However, I was most enchanted by the acting of the little people in the supporting cast. They brought me inside an inaccessible subculture and often made it very comfortable and believable.

However, Bogie, Bacall and the entire cast of the Wizard of Oz couldn't rescue this movie. This is an ambitious project with an intriguing premise. And apparently, Oldman is the one that drove the project, and he wanted to play a dwarf. (The kid that has the football gets to be quarterback?) But everything else about the movie is … bad. There were times when the Sundance crowd laughed at loud at some of the directing/editing. And the script seemed to be pieced together.

More Weirdness: At the premiere at Sundance, writer-director Matthew Bright scathingly denounced the film. He didn't watch the movie and said he never will. (`It's like making love to your ex-wife.') Bright apparently got into an argument with the financier of the film over creative differences. I think what I heard is that Bright wanted to close with a love scene between Oldman (playing a dwarf) and Kate Beckinsale. I guess the money-guy just didn't think the American public was ready for this. Anyway, according to Bright, he was fired from the movie and a bunch of inexperienced hacks who know nothing about the movie business finished the film. Bright said neither he nor none of the artists were paid a dime and that they didn't support the movie. Maybe this explains why this was such a disappointing film.

I'd watch anything with Matthew McConaughey. Seriously. I've seen Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, I liked it, I've seen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, it was horrendous, I've seen his courtroom dramas A Time to Kill and The Lincoln Lawyer, love them. He's one of my favorite actors because no matter what genre he does, he's still entertaining as hell to watch. And don't even get me started on Gary Oldman. The Professional anyone? So when I saw the trailer for Tiptoes promising McConaughey and "a performance of a lifetime" by Gary Oldman, needless to say I was expecting greatness. Not really. But there has to be some redeeming value in a movie where two of my favorite actors play twin brothers and one of them is a dwarf, right? Well... no.

Tiptoes is exactly as terrible as you'd expect it to be. The premise alone, like who the hell thought of this? And why in god's name did McConaughey and Oldman agree to this abomination? Did they even read the script? Holy hell it's bad. It has some laugh out loud moments of course, I mean the premise lends itself to some horrifically awkward situations. One of the greatest lines in the movie is McConaughey yelling, "I'M A DWARF!" as his 6 foot tall body looms over Kate Beckinsale. It's classic. And the thing is, the acting is really good. Across the board. How they were able to deliver this dialogue with a straight face I'll never know. I can't imagine what their paychecks were.

There are some truly cringe-worthy moments in here as you can imagine. There's the whole drama over calling little people "midgets" and a pointless story between Peter Dinklage with a french accent and Patricia Arquette, as in it literally adds zero to the plot. And the ending, wow. Let's just say McConaughey got the short end of the stick.

I sat through this movie, you don't have to. Seriously the trailer goes through the entire plot, and it's infinitely funnier being 3 minutes long as opposed to a 90-minute brutal movie experience. In a way I'm glad Tiptoes was made because it's so insane and incredulous of a premise with these fantastic actors, it's like the best punchline of all time. But this movie tries to be serious, and because of that, it's painful to watch. Don't see Tiptoes.

I am a "little person" with a similar body type as the character Gary Oldman played. I had never heard of this movie until tonight when I was flicking through cable and it had already started. I watched for an hour thinking to myself that this guy looked like Gary Oldman... "holy crap this guy could play a dwarf Gary Oldman in some sort of movie". I finally realized it was him when they would never show his feet.

A lot of people said in there reviews that he wasn't convincing but I'll tell ya as someone who looks like he was supposed to, he was convincing! There were some key things he did which I thought was impressive. He never fully straightened his elbows or fingers. People like me are naturally like that due to arthritis and other bone ailments.

Anyway I'm still extremely annoyed that another movie with a "little person" as a lead role is played by a "regular" person. I could have played the part since I look a lot like the character. I also would have loved to have been smooching with Kate Beckinsale!! I would have done the movie for free just for that opportunity LOL

just saw this at sundance last night. absolutely horrid. people left mid movie in droves. quite possibly the worst acting (save G.O.) i've seen in years. best line-"does it hurt to be a little person?" maybe, maybe not. but it is quite painful to watch this movie.

This film premiered at Sundance and I was happy to have the opportunity to see it. I am a big fan of Gary Oldman and was looking forward to seeing him play a dwarf. The storyline was interesting; however the movie fell flat. Strangely enough, I was distracted by Oldman's portrayal of a dwarf...I kept wondering how they made him look so small instead of concentrating on the story. I never did figure out what Peter Dinklage and Patricia Arquette's characters had to do with the story; perhaps just to show that little people have relationships with "normal" size people...I don't know. I thought Dinklage, Arquette, Oldman and Kate Beckinsale all turned in good performances, but somehow all of them couldn't save this movie.