Tadpole (2002)

Fun & brief
It's worth a rental. Just over an hour, Bebe is way sexy in this btw. Fun and funny.

Amusing Coming-of-Age Pre-"Graduate" Made on the Cheap
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.

Short and sweet!
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!