Snow Day (2000) 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Chevy Chase, Mary Kay Place and Chris Elliott.
"Snow Day" is a cartoonish feature that has the look and feel of a made-for-TV movie.
The characters are stock, the situations are cliched. The movie plays more like one of those old "ABC Afterschool Specials" than a theatrical release.
One basic problem is the movie is unsure to which audience its wants to pander, the younger kids or teen-agers. So, it offers a goulash of both, satisfying neither.
The best indicator of the reception this film will likely receive from the under-10 set came from a little boy sitting a couple rows in front of me at a preview screening.
He punctuated the theater with a loud `yuk' three times. Each exclamation followed a kissing scene between two teen-age characters.
At just about 90 minutes, Snow Day moves at a brisk pace. But the story is fragmented and is populated by types, not real people - or even real kids.
There's the geek who has a crush on the popular, beautiful girl; his best friend, a pretty, honest girl who has a crush on him; the stupid, jock boyfriend; the younger, but wiser, sister; the fat friend who emits a symphony of sounds; and the buffoonish school principal everyone hates.
"Snow Day," a co-production between Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures, is strictly by-the-numbers filmmaking.
And in a sense, the film, though meant to be slapstick and a bit of a fantasy, is somewhat irresponsible. For example, a group of young kids - elementary school age - want a second snow day. To get it, they kidnap `Snowplow Man' (Chris Elliott in a comically disgusting turn) and commandeer his snowplow. Showing youngsters driving around in heavy machinery is not my idea of a smart move.
However, the kids are charming, and the film contains barely enough action and gags to sustain it.
"Snow Day" is aimed at an audience the filmmakers condescendingly think are too young to have an opinion. But three `yuks' should tell them something.
Maybe they should have canned the romance and filmed more snowball fights.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net
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