Tadpole | | Cast : | Aaron Stanford, Sigourney Weaver | | Director : | Gary Winick | | Studio : | Miramax Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned | | Released Date : | January 01, 2002 | | DVD Released Date : | July 05, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 29, 2005 | | Summary | Amusing Coming-of-Age Pre-"Graduate" Made on the Cheap | Content
 | Shot in less than two weeks on digital video, this charming, lightweight 2002 comedy indeed has the murky look of a home movie complete with shaky camera shots and orange-tinted graininess. If you can overlook that, you will see some smart performances by an unusually high-profile cast and clever writing by Heather McGowan & Niels Mueller in this coming-of-age concoction from director Gary Winick. The plot focuses on Oscar Grubman, a Voltaire-quoting fifteen year old who overanalyzes the world around him like a pubescent Woody Allen, so naturally he is not interested in girls his own age but his attractive stepmother Eve, a medical researcher who can wax poetically about the heart. However, things get even more complicated when he falls into a drunken one-night stand with Eve's best friend, Diane, a free-spirited massage therapist who doesn't come across so much as a hedonist but rather sensible about the ways of love. Naturally Oscar's father Stanley is completely ignorant of what's going on, as is Eve until Oscar confesses his love for her.
At a running time of only 77 minutes, this all speeds by quickly thanks to Winick's overly efficient pacing, and except for Oscar, the characters aren't given much time to be fully drawn out. Aaron Stanford, a 25-year old playing a decade younger, portrays Oscar expertly, updating a younger version of Benjamin Braddock from "The Graduate" for the new millennium. And fortunately, Winick recruited the still-luminous Sigourney Weaver as Eve, as she plays her role with a deadpan sincerity befitting the preoccupied stepmother. The late John Ritter plays Stanley without condescending to his befuddled character, but the best performance comes from Bebe Neuwirth, sexy and frisky as Diane. The restaurant scene with the four of them dodging and ultimately discovering the truth of Oscar and Diane's tryst is very well-played out with Neuwirth particularly funny in her insouciance. Even Robert Iler, Tony Jr. from "The Sopranos", shows up as Oscar's best friend Charlie, whose down-to-earth doofus provides a nice contrast to Oscar's often pretentious intellect. This is hardly a cinematic milestone, and frankly it makes a case for using the digital video medium sparingly. But it does provide quiet laughs and insightful if rather predictable observations. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 25, 2005 | | Summary | Short and sweet! | Content
| At 77 minutes this film really packs a wallop---hilarious most of the way through, but also poignant and incisive at turns.
I rented this film mainly because I absolutely love both Sigourney Weaver and Bebe Neuwirth but I had low expectations, thinking it was probably going to be another "The Graduate" knockoff with the sort of pretentious deadness of "Rushmore."
Instead I was pleasantly surprised: while "Tadpole" does make a couple of self-conscious and coy allusions to "The Graduate" (one of my all-time favorites that I've seen dozens of times) it definitely has its own unique style and flavor. Aaron Stanford is no Dustin Hoffman but is more than up to the role, portraying the super-bright, gawky teenager very adroitly. Weaver and Neuwirth put in excellent performances as is their norm, Neuwirth especially packs an ungodly amount of devastating sexual magnetism in every scene, with every glance and gesture and word---ay yi yi, I kept wanting to kick Stanford for not being elated to have HER fall into his lap!
The other really side-splitting supplier of comic relief here is John Ritter, who plays the brainy but clueless college professor with delightful aplomb...I didn't even realize he was John Ritter until the credits!
All in all this is a light film but utterly delightful, it's too bad it's not at least an extra 30 minutes longer.
Some reviewers have complained about the digital camera picture often being washed out but I found it perfectly fine, my only objection was a bit of excessive camera movement during the first 15 minutes of the movie. Otherwise everything comes together marvelously: the strong script and cast, score, camera work, film editing, etc. For the 2 weeks of filming and shoestring $150,000 budget they really put together a very high quality piece of work. How refreshing to see a film that dares to do whatever the hell it wants however it wants, without boring the audience to tears! |
| Rating | | | Date | March 13, 2005 | | Summary | Dreadful | Content
| With Bebe Neuwerth and Sigourney Weaver, how could it be anything but good? Well, it was terrible. Not very funny at all and it was impossible at best to see the appeal of our title character. Perhaps a better looking, younger looking actor could have suspended my disbelief. This was a another coming of age story about a pretentious, precocious, unlikable character a la Igby Goes Down. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 04, 2005 | | Summary | Something a little different, but no great shakes | Content
| This independent film is about a fifteen year old boy who is in love with his 40 year old stepmother Eve, played by Weaver. Neuwirth plays Eve's sexually charged friend Diane, and Ritter is the boy's father. While home on school break, the boy plans to reveal his love to his stepmother. But before he can, he has a one night stand with Diane while drunk. She is very casual about the sex, but he is overwrought with the possibility that Eve might find out. In the best scene of the movie, Diane drops hints about the affair while the four of them are eating in a restaurant together. Afterward, the boy confesses his love for his stepmother, and she is obviously conflicted, allowing him to kiss her. Ultimately, she rejects him and he moves on to a healthier interest in girls his own age. The movie returns often to a theme of Oscar's enthusiasm for life, which is the key to his attractiveness to older women, who are surrounded by bored people. Eve herself is a rare individual who has maintained the spark of youth into her adulthood. All of the adult actors do a serviceable job, although Neuwirth outshines Weaver, and Ritter outshines them both. The boy who plays Oscar is fine, except for scenes in which he is comically uncomfortable, which he plays too broadly. The movie is fine for what it is, but somehow seemed too thin to sustain its running length. There is a lack of subplots, and the conflict is fairly muted, with not much risk of loss for any of the characters. The most potent conflict would be between Oscar and his father, but Ritter's character remains blissfully ignorant. As it is, we are sympathetic toward Oscar's plight, but don't really feel emotionally involved in the outcome. Instead, we have a prurient interest in who will sleep with Oscar. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 24, 2004 | | Summary | Digital Video | Content
| Tadpole Was Shot On A Sony PD150(PAL) And Is A Great Film To Study If you are a filmmaker like me. because i own a pd150(NTSC) i saw that you can make funny and cinematic films in DV. I Love This Movie For DV Studying. |
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