Tadpole
Review by Clint Morris
 As
untactful as its ostensible focus may be, Gary Winick’s
Tadpole is still an infectiously engaging love story
of errors – fortified with a couple of stellar performances,
by film faces infantile and mature.
And together they make an anomalous movie about a 15 year
old’s unsanitary fixation with his stepmother all the
more endurable.
Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) is far from your token typical
15-year old high school sophomore. He not only attends a supercilious
prep school, but he reads and quotes poetry, admires women
for their inner beauty and less-admired parts, and peculiarly
isn’t concerned about getting laid – which most
of his peers seem to be.
According to his best friend, Charlie (Robert Iler, The Sopranos),
he's like a 40-year old trapped in a 15-year old's body.
It’s not unpredicted then when Oscar starts to take
an unwholesome curiosity in his attractive stepmother, Eve
(Sigourney Weaver), and incessantly plots how to divulge his
feelings. He is convinced that her marriage to his father,
Stanley (John Ritter), has left her disgruntled and has a
formless perception that he might be able to fill the void.
Then, when he's home in Manhattan for Thanksgiving, he makes
the mistake of getting drunk, then compounds that blunder
by sleeping with Eve's best friend, the uniformly senior Diane
(Bebe Neuwirth).
Now with a reprehensible secret and a carrier full of lure,
Oscar has a few more hurdles to cross before claiming his
stepmother’s heart.
Tadpole is a mostly witty, original and enjoyable
romantic comedy. However, it mightn’t have been as engaging
had it not been for its cast – the palatable Weaver,
the amusing Neuwirth and newcomer, the always underrated Ritter,
25-year-old Aaron Stanford – because the production values
are pretty meager.
It’s filmed on digital video over a period of two weeks
at a cost of about $150,000 - and it looks it. Additionally,
it clocks in at a rather condensed 75 minutes.
But despite its economical look, inopportune running time
and lack of fleshy disposition, Tadpole is still a
relatively engaging picture – if not the best of the
recent nonconformist love tales.
3 out of 5
Tadpole
Australian release: Thursday December 5
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Aaron Stanford, John Ritter, Bebe
Neuwirth, Robert Iler, Adam LeFevre.
Director: Gary Winick.
Website: Click
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