Now that the slick, sappy "Simon Birch" has almost run its course at the box office there may not be a high desire among moviegoers to see "The Mighty," another story about misfit boys joining forces to survive. But it would be a shame if this funny, warm-hearted film didn't find a sizable audience; it's as captivating as "Simon" is contrived. When Hollywood attempts to portray the jinior-high years, it often opts for a heavily sentimental approach in which everyone is cutely geeky, daydreaming about their first kiss or trying to join a cool clique. The realities of pre-adolescence -- particularly for those kids who, for one reason or another, don't fit in -- are considerably less rosy. If, for example, you're Maxwell Kane (Elden Henson), the slow-witted son of a convicted murderer, you might easily end up getting slammed regularly by peers and adults alike. "Killer Kane, Killer Kane, has a son who's got no brain," chant Max's classmates, while his gym teacher asks if he needs to translate instructions into Neanderthal for Max to understand. Next door to Max lives Kevin Dillon (Kieran Culkin), a brilliant mind trapped in a body crippled and twisted by Morquio's syndrome. His mother (Sharon Stone) encourages Kevin to explore the world of books and science, but she fears letting him explore the world itself. "She's afraid I'll get trampled," Kevin tells Max. "Sometimes I think my mom would like me to stay home with a tube down my throat." Separately, these two aren't making it. United, they're formidable. Kevin shares his intellect with the almost illiterate Max, and Max provides the physical prowess Kevin needs, or, as Max puts it, "he became my brain and I became his feet." But before you write off "The Mighty" as a standard-issue sermonette about sharing, take another look. Surrounding Kevin and Max is a circle of vivid characters, exceptionally well-played by such actors as Harry Dean Stanton, Gena Rowlands, James Gandolfini and, in the film's biggest surprise, an unrecognizable Gillian Anderson as a tart with mall-hair. Daringly, director Peter Chelsom has infused the film with a kind of magical realism that usually functions better on the printed page than it does on the screen. Here, the technique not only works, it gives "The Mighty" that extra flavor that sets it apart from other similar tales. In the eyes of Max and Kevin, Cincinnati is just Camelot in disguise, full of damsels in distress, black-hearted villains and Holy Grails waiting to be discovered. It sounds silly and precious, but Culkin and Henson are so thoroughly convincing they rope us into the fantasy. Stone's performance as a lonely woman living in awe of her child ("Congratulations, Mrs. Dillon: It was a tough delivery, but you've given birth to a healthy seven-pound dictionary," she jokes) is understated and true-to-life. Because of its pro-reading theme and its message about acceptance, "The Mighty" will probably be a big attraction for teachers looking to take their classes on a field-trip, and that's fine. But when pictures are made with as much care and heart as this one was, they deserve to be seen by everyone. Forget "Simon Birch": "The Mighty" is truly something special. James Sanford
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews