JACK
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1996 Michael John Legeros
(Hollywood)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Written by James DeMonaco & Gary Nadeau
Cast Robin Williams, Diane Lane, Brian Kerwin, Jennifer
Lopez, Adam Zolotin, Bill Cosby, Fran Dresche
MPAA Rating "PG-13"
Running Time 113 minutes
Reviewed at General Cinemas at Pleasant Valley, Raleigh, NC
(27JUL96)
==
Last seen making trashy vampire movies, Francis Ford Coppola directs this low-powered, light-hearted drama about a boy with the body of an adult. Sound familiar? This time the magic is medical: an infant who is growing at four times the rate of normal. Cut ahead to age ten and Jack Powell, played by Robin Williams, looks like your average forty-year-old adult. (Or, with those hairy arms, your average forty-year-old lumberjack.) Jack is a boy in a suburban bubble. He's tutored at home, his mom doesn't work, and he's given everything he wants, *except* the chance to play with kids his own age. So what happens? Jack Goes to School, where he experiences a bunch of new things, from alienation to acceptance to, finally, awareness about himself and his condition.
Though ultimately unsuccessful as a message movie-- the moral of the story is... people get old? Well, duh-- JACK is endearing enough. And entirely recommendable. Given plenty of room to act his age, Robin Williams delivers a performance that is warm, funny, and far from ingratiating. No Oscar baiting here; not in a movie featuring such frivolity as fart lighting. (Suggested story idea for CHAIN REACTION 2: Keanu Reeves spends two hours fleeing his own flatulence. Sorry.) The pokey pacing, however, makes for a bit of a long sit. As does the occasionally gushing sentiment and the ever-dawning realization that the story isn't going anywhere in particular. Except, perhaps, as fodder for the next Mel Brooks spoof. (Suggested title: LARGE.) With strong supporting work from Bill Cosby, Fran Drescher, and Michael McKean.
Grade: B-
--
Mike Legeros - Raleigh, NC
legeros@nando.net (h) - legeros@unx.sas.com (w)
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