The Real Howard Spitz

1998
PG
1h 42m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Howard Spitz is a cranky, has-been detective novelist out of money and out of luck - until he meets eight-year-old Samantha, who convinces him he has what it takes to write children's books.Howard Spitz is a cranky, has-been detective novelist out of money and out of luck - until he meets eight-year-old Samantha, who convinces him he has what it takes to write children's books.Howard Spitz is a cranky, has-been detective novelist out of money and out of luck - until he meets eight-year-old Samantha, who convinces him he has what it takes to write children's books.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

333

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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User reviews14

5.6333

Featured reviews

10Spider-36

A feel good movie, funny...

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.

5MovieAddict2016

Very oddball film

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.

piotr-3

a minor gem

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.

4Theo Robertson

Really Strange Direction

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

7Mark Price

B movie but above average

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.

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Trivia
Distributors Metrodome were hugely reluctant to give the film a cinema release in the UK as the film only did average business at the North American box office and, as a small company, they wanted to keep their overheads to a minimum by selling the film to the foreign home rental market and make deals for television broadcast rights. However English director Vadim Jean , whilst understanding the business logic, felt a little short-changed as he made the film for cinema release and wanted to see it given some kind of theatrical release in his home country, not only for the sake of his own conscience but to show off to family and friends. Therefore he struck a deal with Metrodome where if they gave him a period of grace, he would finance a small UK cinema release out of his own pocket. He argued that a small summer release in the UK would be a good time as there was nothing else showing other than big Hollywood blockbusters so there would be some screen availability for a family PG comedy and most of the other small scale independent films deliberately avoided that time of the year to avoid big Hollywood releases. Although they knew the film was never going to set the box office ablaze, Metrodome were struck by his honesty and passion so graciously agreed to his request. Jean paid for four film prints to be struck (at a cost of £1500 each) and the film was indeed given a tiny release in London in the late summer of 1998 and then toured around the country for a couple of months after.