LEAVE IT TO BEAVER
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
"You know Mrs. Cleaver," proclaims Eddie in his typically unctuous voice. "And I say this with all due respect. I have to admit, you're a babe." This time the ever conniving Eddie Haskell has hit the nail on the head. LEAVE IT TO BEAVER's June Cleaver, as played with grace and delicate wit by Janine Turner, is a knockout. ("June you're vacuuming in pearls again," her husband later almost pants. "You know what that does to me.")
Next to the surprise that the remake of the 1950's TV series is reasonably charming, the biggest surprise is that the parents -- Christopher McDonald plays a sincere Ward Cleaver -- steal the show. Even the twelve-year-olds are interesting, but poor eight-year-old Beaver Cleaver, played by the numbers by Cameron Finley, is stuck with the least imaginative part of all.
The setup for the plot is that Beaver, who has a history of destroying his possessions, wants a bike. Eddie tells Beaver to suck up to Mr. Cleaver by pretending to want to join the football team. Once the softened-up dad buys him the bicycle, he can quit the team. Beaver's twelve-year-old brother Wally sees substantial risk in this scam, arguing, "There is a reason why football players wear more equipment than men who train attack dogs."
Adam Zolotin's Eddie has the same flexible moral code of Ken Osmond's original Eddie, but the new Eddie, with his slicked-back oily hair is more of a pip-squeak. (Osmond as well as the original June, Barbara Billingsley, appear in brief cameo roles in the remake. The new June is much better, but don't be surprised if you pine for the old, more nefarious Eddie.) Erik von Detten's Wally is more laid back than the original and more interested in the opposite sex. Eddie's would-be girlfriend, who actually is infatuated with Wally and detests Eddie, is played sweetly by Erika Christensen. When Wally spins the bottle during that quintessential adolescent ritual of old, the result is as touching as it is predictable.
Although the script by Brian Levant and Lon Diamond has some of the obligatory, campy scenes, for the bulk of the film the addition of a laugh track would be impossible. Unlike the series, which was strictly comedy, the movie has a gentler and more serious tone. June comments on Ward's and all men's obsession with their relationship with their own father, saying that they are more concerned with it than with the relationship with their own children. And when the Beaver is forced to see a "shrink" and bring his family along with him, it is Wally who turns morose and starts bawling.
Randy Edelman's sweeping music has the drama of a much more substantial endeavor. Combined with Thomas Del Ruth's warm backlit cinematography and Perry Andelin Blake's colorfully nostalgic sets, the picture beckons us to enter and enjoy even if the story gets pretty thin. "Hamlet" it isn't.
"If I grow up and have as dumb a kid as me," decides Beaver. "It'd be hard not to want to belt him." The film itself succeeds in spite of, not because of, Beaver's laughable stupidity. Director Andy Cadiff has the good sense to focus on the rest of the family.
LEAVE IT TO BEAVER runs just 1:28. It is rated PG for a couple of instances of bathroom humor. The film would be fine for any age, and I suspect that the baby-boomer parents may like it better than their kids, who are the putative audience for the picture. My son Jeffrey, age 8, thought the film was "really good" and commented that it might make his top 20 of the year list. I recommend this small pleasure to your family and give it ** 1/2.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: August 28, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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