DVD Review: Tadpole (B+)

Tadpole (2002)
Directed by Gary Winick
Starring Aaron Stanford, Sigourney Weaver, Bebe Beuwirth and John Ritter
MPAA: PG-13
Grade: B+

Review by Scott Standish

In an age of overly long, needlessly complex dramas trying to do too much, Tadpole is a delight. Coming in at just 77 minutes long, Tadpole is an intelligent comedy about love that smartly knows just when to quit. Shot completely on digital, this feature film stars big league talent and came in under 150 thousand to make. Nice.

Oscar (played by newcomer Aaron Stanford) is a highly intelligent 15 year old that has a serious crush on his father's new wife, Eve. His father (played by John Ritter) has started to take Eve (Sigourney Weaver) a little for granted. Eve feels like something is missing, but can't put her finger on what it is. Oscar is an extremely smart young man, with a firm grasp of the French language (which he loves to show off at every opportunity) and a passion for literature.

Despite the fact that Eve's friends are in the 40 year old range, they fall all over themselves vying for Oscar's attention. Oscar only has eyes for Eve. Oscar's doorman still calls him Tadpole, a childhood nickname. No matter how he tries to be a mature adult, he finds it hard to escape his youth.

Much has been made about the age differences here and how it seems a little creepy. I do think that if Tadpole were about a young girl chasing an older man, especially her step father, this story would have met even stronger criticism. But, I think that the filmmaker is not exploiting this storyline in any way, he is simply telling how a plot like this can develop naturally (and of course this does happen in real life all of the time- simply check out any of the daytime talk shows).

Tadpole is a witty, engaging story that gets right to the point, and then delivers. Aaron Stanford is obviously a talented young actor. Director Gary Winick won the Director's Award at Sundance 2002 and Bebe Neuwirth (always a treat) won the Seattle Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actress award for her performance here.

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