The Real Howard Spitz

I first watched this movie on an airplane that was flying to London. That's when I fell in love with this movie. Then a few months later, when I had the chance, I rented it on video. I fell even more in love with it. It's a feel good movie, it's funny, and you don't feel as if you've just watch some Olsen twin movie or something. Genevive Tessier, who plays Sam, is the most darling little girl I've ever seen. Kelsey Grammer plays one of his best roles yet. If you don't see any other movie, see this one. It'll have you laughing out loud and it'll make you feel good too. Take my word for it.

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 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

Well I like Kelsey Grammar so I decide to watch this last night. Now I know he is not box office and my expectations were not built up so I was pleasantly surprised that I not only enjoyed it overall but laughed out loud in parts – mostly from the daughter. She had the best lines! Amanda Donohoe, normally glam personified played not quite plain but lacking self esteem very well. Kelsey Grammar plays the usual and that is not knocking him, he does that cynical but soft underneath to perfection. Yes a lot of the plot is predicable but you are hardly going to see something new. The main cast play well of each other and the one-liners are thrown away in a timely fashion.

I can only think the earlier review had jet lag or bad service on his air flight. This is an excellent B movie.

"The Real Howard Spitz" is the story of a detective writer who switches to children's books because he thinks there's more money in it. The only problem is, he doesn't particularly like children. Despite his curmudgeonliness, a little girl befriends him and encourages him to pursue this new career. Kelsey Grammer is utterly believable as the cynical, money-hungry author, and Amanda Donohoe is charming and beautiful as the little girl's mother (and, predictably, Kelsey Grammer's love interest). The film is supposedly set in the US but was actually shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

This film is really intended for children but has one minor example of foul language. The children and young adolescents in the audience seemed to be having a good time, and Kelsey Grammer fans will, too. In my experience, there are very few terrible Canadian films, and "The Real Howard Spitz" certainly isn't one of them. Go see it, or rent it, because you certainly won't lose any special effects by seeing it on the small screen.