Mr. Rice's Secret
not rated 92 minutes New City Distribution starring Bill Switzer, David Bowie, Garwin Stanford, and Zack Lipovsky written by J.H. Wyman directed by Nicholas Kendall
A Review by Frankie Paiva
David Bowie isn't exactly the person you would expect to be appearing in a family film. Even stranger is that he's in a film having to do with such serious material like death, fear of death, and growing up with Hodgkin's disease. The surprising secret is that Bowie is the best part of the movie. While given first billing, he's in no more than ten minutes of the picture, but his voice, messages, and spirit live on in the main character. That character is Owen Walters (Bill Switzer) a nearly friendless young boy with Hodgkin's disease. The two spend a lot of time together. Owen looks for support, care, and advice in Mr. Rice when his parents aren't providing it. I'd be running to this guy too. The parents (played by Teryl Rothery and Garwin Standford) apparently love their son very much. However, all these clueless two ever do is make their child's situation worse by not encouraging him or answering his questions. They are unawares to the feelings their child is experiencing. Other characters include the stereotypical fat and stupid bully (Jason Anderson), and a leukemia suffering boy (Richard de Klerk) who is more accepting of his condition than Owen is. Together these people could make quite a tedious tense family drama, and at many times they do. Helping things move along though is the pursuit of treasure. When Mr. Rice dies, he leaves behind a decoder ring and code so Owen can find his secret. Soon Owen is digging up dead bodies, breaking into houses, and discovering lost keys that could all lead to Mr. Rice's secret. It's quite plain what the secret is early on in the film, but the journey is exciting and I was waiting to see what Owen would do with it.
Despite some somewhat solid performances, particularly from its lead, there isn't a huge reason to see Mr. Rice's Secret. There isn’t a reason to see it with the kids either. This certainly isn't a family film, even though it's marketed as one. The themes of death will be too heavy and boring for most children and the film contains an awful lot of unneeded swearing and a very brief sexual image. The problem is simple. I counted at least ten noticeable clichés I had all seen in, at minimum, five other movies. Thinking back, it's hard to recall a part of Mr. Rice's Secret that seemed original, witty, or unique. Cliché ridden movies are not always bad, but the emotion exhibited by the actors is faker than Cher's body. Last year, October Sky managed to be entertaining and sad even though it too was cliché ridden. However, that movie had much better actors. This isn't to say director Nicholas Kendall doesn't pull some things off. One character has a very funny stuttering punk brother, and there is a great close-up shot of ants feeding on a rotten apple in one frightening scene. There is also a very funny discussion about how authority figures (like parents) are meant to get lied to. Even so, I doubt parents want their children learning that you can dig up graves in the middle of the night and get away with it. They probably wouldn't want kids to blackmail their siblings, or know you can always sneak out your bedroom window without ever getting caught either. Additionally, we must not forget the most important lesson of all. Whenever you punch a fat person in the stomach, they always cry.
I do appreciate the attempt to capture young boy's friendships and their true meaning, but this movie is just a depressing sham. The difficulties Owen must face never rise above the after-school special drama level, and when I figured out the ending about thirty minutes into the movie that didn't help either. I got continuously reminded of an Aesop fable the entire time, thinking that each scene was there to teach me a lesson, and they do. Perhaps the film will be an inspiration to children with Hodgkin's, leukemia, or other types of life threatening diseases. It shows that you can succeed, have friends, and triumph in life if you are only willing to try and prove yourself. The actors tried, and almost flourished. Mr. Rice's Secret isn't a guilty pleasure; it's more of a guilty emotional enjoyment. Even if I knew what was going to happen, I still left with a feeling of happiness. There just wasn't enough real emotion or material happening in the story to get this thing off its feet, or for me to rise up and cheer.
C-
Frankie Paiva SwpStke@aol.com http://www.homestead.com/cinemaparadise/mainpage.html
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