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Indie flix
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 8, 2002
Pleasant comedy, unpleasant marketing
Tadpole (PG-13) (78 min.) -- I don't like the way Miramax Films turned a movie title into a media topic before moviegoers had a chance to see the film and decide for themselves if it merits discussion. If you've seen those recent chats about "tadpoling" -- older women dating very young men -- on morning shows and the like, realize that two screenwriters came up with the term, Miramax sent out breathless press releases about this alleged phenomenon, adding oh, yes, they had a movie about it coming soon.
I don't doubt that older women are loving young men. I'm sure it isn't a new phenomenon. What's good for the goose is good for the gander and all that. Authors do what Miramax did all the time, but only those with researched conclusions get the serious consideration "tadpoling" did. The difference is that offering film clips and celebrities like Sigourney Weaver and Bebe Neuwirth to talk about sex is too good for TV to pass up.
Tadpole is a pleasant little comedy that isn't sturdy enough, or responsible enough, to withstand such scrutiny. The plot involves a very intelligent 15-year-old boy named Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) with a crush on his stepmother Eve (Weaver) who gets seduced by her 40-ish best friend Diane (Neuwirth). Turn the genders around and you have Lolita with all the uproar about pedophilia. For all its lightness and French-flavored twists, the movie never addresses the fact that Diane should go to jail for this.
Make Oscar a few years older and you have a solid response to Hollywood's habit of pairing graybeards like Sean Connery with actors who could pass for their daughters. That isn't the issue here.
Congratulations, Miramax. You've succeeded in making indecent behavior appear to be a feminist declaration of sexual freedom, at least until the movie is viewed. Sleep well.
Tadpole never stoops as low as the marketing forces behind it. This is a nice piece of work from director Gary Winick, smartly written and performed. The movie might have generated controversy on its own, like Y Tu Mama Tambien, for its cross-generational lust, but that would narrow its audience. It's certainly entertaining and, at a brisk 78 minutes, never takes itself too seriously.
Stanford is a find in his first major role, deftly balancing Oscar's naivete and know-it-all attitude. Oscar considers himself too mature for girls his age, quoting Voltaire, ordering dinner in French and dressing for success. His infatuation with Eve is innocent, but he can't allow her to learn of his one-night stand with Diane. But Diane has a big mouth and Stanford's escalating jitters are fun to watch.
Weaver is an able object of desire, yet Neuwirth emerges as the strongest adult presence in Tadpole, so self-assured that we can almost believe she's doing the right thing. John Ritter adds a few good clueless moments as Eve's husband, and a choice choking response when he gets clued in. Tadpole handles its subject delicately. It's just the publicity that feels cheap.
* * *
Who is Cletis Tout? (R) (92 min.) -- Movie buffs can enjoy a passably good time picking out classic film references in Chris Ver Wiel's crime flick. From its opening scene of mobsters discussing Deliverance (as the Reservoir Dogs did Madonna) to a closing shot modeled on Singing in the Rain, Who is Cletis Tout? is like a parlor game of guessing where Ver Weil got this idea and that one.
The result is a clever stunt that never quite materializes into a full-blown movie. Certainly not one that anyone will quote later, unless you count Tim Allen's overdue assertion that co-star Christian Slater looks and sounds just like Jack Nicholson. Allen plays a hit man nicknamed Critical Jim, just as Treat Williams played a killer named Critical Bill in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead. Slater plays Jim's hostage, Cletis Tout, insisting that isn't his true identity. He has 90 minutes to convince Critical Jim before trigger time.
"Flashbacks!" Jim urges. "Yes, I like flashbacks." Cletis (or Trevor Finch, as he claims) gives him plenty, moving Ver Wiel's moseying plot through dependable genres like heist flicks, prison breaks and obligatory romance. Jim interrupts occasionally, quoting lines from screenplays ranging from Double Indemnity to Heaven Can Wait, adding the studio and year of release in true movie-geek fashion. When Trevor's tale needs some second-act action, Jim supplies a fantasy chase out of The French Connection.
Trevor obliges, knowing the hit man's obsession is buying time. His plot features a magician thief (Richard Dreyfuss), his eagerly criminal daughter (Portia De Rossi), a shady morgue attendant (Billy Connolly), phony identities and stolen diamonds. Ver Weil takes his own plot wherever the whims of his characters go. Who is Cletis Tout? holds our interest, then we wonder why.
Allen makes his best screen impression since The Santa Clause, and Slater plays Trevor much like his True Romance rogue, all eyebrows, grins and, yes, Nicholson tics. Connolly steals his scenes with braggadocio and a brogue. De Rossi is a sunny love interest and Dreyfuss does well with his limited screen time. They're all as obviously infatuated with Ver Wiel's gimmick as the filmmaker is. Who is Cletis Tout? mightily hopes viewers are, too.
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