Glida

I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but I began to imagine Drew Barrymore playing opposite Adam Sandler instead of Jimmy Fallon. In "50 First Dates," Sandler found something tangible in his character, which made the chemistry believable, even though the situation was not. In "Fever Pitch," Fallon's paper thin performance left the audience as wanting as Barrymore's character found her love interest. Even though Sandler has evolved, that Fallon has not progressed to the level of Adam Sandler hardly puts him very high up the food chain. Barrymore's usual appealing portrayal nearly saved the film, but could not rescue it from cliché and tedium.

Just returned from the Regal, which bravely ventured into indie territory with Tadpole, from director Gary Winick. In many ways, the film was reminiscent of French movies which combine sexuality with ideas, where the ideas undergird the film. Winick seems comfortable with the reality that families, especially blended ones, are often cauldrons of seething sexuality. These passions run like a swift underground river, oblivious to the egos and social conventions that rule the surface. In the hands of lesser actors, the material would have crumbled into camp, but this experienced cast delivers the discourse at the level of tender, light comedy, with a deep respect for the characters and issues involved.

Oscar (Aaron Stanford) is the precocious 15 year old son of a Columbia history professor, Stanley (John Ritter), and has a mad crush on his step-mother Eve (Sigourney Weaver). Disdaining girls his own age as lacking in the worldly graces and wisdom, he focuses instead on Eve, a doctor whose passion for her work and interest in him ignites his passion for love, relationship, and self-discovery. Toting his tirelessly read copy of Voltaire's Candide, he seeks a sensibility in a woman to nurture his hunger for the world that is beginning to open to him.

So, during a brief vacation from his prep school, he charges ahead with a plan to finally connect romantically with his step-mother. After an awkward evening with "the fam," he ventures out to the cool evening air to drop off a girl his father wants him to date, ditches her in a cab ("But I only live six more blocks away," she protests) gets drunk, and runs into Eve's friend Diane (Bebe Neuwirth), a chiropractor who invites him into her apartment and, with one thing leading to another, gives him an adjustment he will never forget. Since she is a friend of the family, Oscar is appalled to learn that Eve has invited her to attend dinner with the family. And then, the hi-jinx begin.

Or they would in a lesser film, but here, the filmmaker treats the situation with wry humor, a keen understanding of adolescence and the feelings that emerge when the rule book no longer applies because those chapters have never found print. During the rest of the film, with a surprisingly light touch, it proceeds to describe how the characters resolve these eruptions of passion, and find a way to channel them in a way that is consistent with the developmental course of the family. While the film is slight in some respects, it works well when taken on its own terms. The writing is sharp and closely observed, and the characters are realistically drawn. To the filmmakers' credit, he lets us grapple with the issues he raises without creating scapegoats. This film savors the ambiguity of the characters who inhabit its plot, which allows us to relate to them in a way that permits us to grapple with ourselves. And, of course, the movie suggests another compelling social issue......how would we feel if the protagonist were a 15-year- old girl?

I should also add that Tadpole resonates with the look and feel of the coming-of-age films from a generation earlier, with Oscar's character somewhat reminiscent of Benjamin Braddock of The Graduate. Winick also uses a cover of a Simon and Garfunkel song, along with the David Bowie rock classic Changes. By using this "retro-score," Winick succeeds in not only referencing a film vocabulary, but also unearthing the feel of an era, where life pushed the edge of the envelope, anyone under the age of 30 who was not a revolutionist was considered an inferior (Shaw), and life effused with possibilities.

The only fault I found with the film was its digital cinematography, which looked washed out with ill-defined images, a problem that would not have occurred disappeared with the use of film stock. Nevertheless, I'm happy to give this film ***1/2 of fours stars.