Review

Review Date: 28-July-02
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Tadpole (2002)

There aren't too many things as appealing as innocence, especially when it's combined with a genuine passion for learning, beauty, and the many varied experiences that life has to offer. But, such innocence is a fragile thing that must be protected by those who would cherish it. This worthy, if unoriginal, truth is at the heart of "Tadpole," a recent Sundance favorite about a 15-year-old boy's foray into love and sex with, respectively, his stepmother and stepmother's best friend.

Aaron Stanford (who, I wager, is a bit older than 15) takes on the title role of Oscar "Tadpole" Grubman, the extremely bright and sensitive son of a Columbia professor (John Ritter), whose second wife, Eve (Sigourney Weaver) is the object of Oscar's ardent affection. Home for Thanksgiving during his sophomore year in prep school, Oscar is determined to declare himself to Eve but is waylaid (to put it indelicately) by Eve's sexy best friend, Diane (Bebe Neuwirth), who beds him shortly after the holiday feast when he is both drunk and vulnerable. Oscar spends the rest of the weekend recuperating from this indiscretion and working toward his ultimate goal, which leads him to revelations he had not been expecting.

At 77 minutes, "Tadpole" is a slender tale that elicits a few laughs and sympathies without achieving any real weight or emotion. Still, Stanford is appropriately wide-eyed and earnest, and Weaver is fine in an unusually soft role, playing a woman who is almost as fragile and in need of protection as her stepson. Viewed as a modest endeavor by an aspiring filmmaker (Gary Winick) and a new, young actor, "Tadpole" is not a bad way to spend an hour and a half on a hot afternoon.

Copyright © 2002 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.