JACK
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
JACK is Francis Ford Coppola's unusual homage to childhood. Writers James DeMonaco and Gary Nadeau borrow an overused plot device, the adult in a child's body, to conjure up the terrors and joys of being ten years old again. Penny Marshall's BIG staring Tom Hanks did this so much better. The script, is so much more intelligent in BIG and the acting there is believable. In fact, if you want to see a excellent show about kids around the preteen age, WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE is still in the theaters and is ten times better than JACK.
In JACK, Karen (Diane Lane) and Brian Powell (Brian Kerwin) have their first baby. Jack (Robin Williams) comes early during a costume ball. Watching Brian get his tin woodsman suit through the metal detector at the hospital is funny. Does your hospital have a metal detector? But I digress. Many of the gags in the show do work. Most however are nothing more than recycled bathroom humor jokes you can find in any low budget kid's movie like PORKY'S.
Soon Karen and Brian find out that their son has cells that are growing at four times the normal rate and that when he is ten, he will have the body, but not the mind or maturity, of a forty year old. The show then jumps to Jack at age forty when he is ready leave his home schooling by Lawrence Woodruff (Bill Cosby) and go to a classroom full of kids his age albeit not his size.
Immediately one of the fatal flaws of the show becomes obvious. Robin Williams does little more than a low key version of his comedy routine. It is so reserved that it is only infrequently funny, but most of all it is not believable. He acts more like he is six, but mainly it is just Robin Williams doing his shtick. I did not buy it for a minute. Having said that, the show manages to be funny some times and poignant others.
We have a sixty pound seven year old with limbs like tornadoes when asleep. When he has a bad dream and jumps in bed with us, it is not easy, but it is nothing compared to the similar episode in JACK. Imagine a two hundred pound man and his teddy bear taking a flying leap to jump between you and your spouse. This scene really worked as did the one where the losers invite Jack to play basketball on their side.
Many of the scenes are sensitive and touching. The best of these is the scene where Jack falls for his teacher and can not understand why she can't be his date to the dance since they are the same size. Gosh, it would be so easy since his mom would be happy to provide transportation.
The best piece of dialog in the picture comes in preparation to the classic essay question. Jack, looking very sad says, "What do I want to be when I grow up? Alive."
Way too much of the show is either gross, in poor taste or both. The boys eat concoctions of worms, spaghetti, toothpaste, you name it. This scene looks like one of those now illegal fraternity hazings.
The boys engage in contests of who can let off the worse spelling gas, and then they set it on fire. They even get Bill Cosby to join in on this "fun" of theirs.
Sometimes sexual relations are treated with respect or in good humor in the show, but usually not. There is a scene in a bar that is in poor taste. Most unbelievable is a scene where one of the kids in Jack's class tells the teacher that he wants to be a gynecologist when he grows up. She is then stupid enough to ask why, and he answers because of you. Think he gets sent to the principal? Oh no, she just smiles politely at him as if those sexual references are just fine in her fifth grade class.
Although this is a sad show with many flaws, it manages to have a life affirming ending. Don't give up on the picture as most of the critics have. It does have it moments.
JACK runs 1:53. It is rated PG-13 for sexual references and innuendo. There is very brief nudity but no sex, violence or bad language other than the bathroom humor. The show would be fine for most kids six and up, but I can not figure out the target audience. This was a show we were going to skip, but Jeffrey (age seven) wanted to see it. He gives it one thumbs up, but one thumbs sideways for having kissing in the movie. The sexual references might as well have been in Lithuanian since they went right over his head. I can not bring myself to recommend the picture, but there are some interesting parts. I give it **.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: August 19, 1996
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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