I had never heard of this bizarre film before it turned up on TV last night.
When I say bizarre, this isn't because of the story, which is interesting and unusual, nor because of the performances which are mostly fine: Osment, as a very young boy, is as good as he subsequently proved himself to be, Depardieu has a lot of fun, and the supports are all fine. Only Whoopi Goldberg finds herself at the disadvantage of a character which requires her to be singlemindedly unsympathetic until a sudden (and, frankly, unconvincing) epiphany near the end).
The casting leans towards the bizarre, the point where Goldberg starts to be able to see Osment's imaginary friend is implausible enough to up the bizarreness quotient noticeably, and the full-on Fred and Ginger dance routine delivered by Goldberg and Depardieu, while very nearly worth the admission price in its own right, is (let's be honest here) full-throttle bizarreness made flesh.
An interesting experiment - not wholly successful, but with enough good points to make it worth a watch.
When I say bizarre, this isn't because of the story, which is interesting and unusual, nor because of the performances which are mostly fine: Osment, as a very young boy, is as good as he subsequently proved himself to be, Depardieu has a lot of fun, and the supports are all fine. Only Whoopi Goldberg finds herself at the disadvantage of a character which requires her to be singlemindedly unsympathetic until a sudden (and, frankly, unconvincing) epiphany near the end).
The casting leans towards the bizarre, the point where Goldberg starts to be able to see Osment's imaginary friend is implausible enough to up the bizarreness quotient noticeably, and the full-on Fred and Ginger dance routine delivered by Goldberg and Depardieu, while very nearly worth the admission price in its own right, is (let's be honest here) full-throttle bizarreness made flesh.
An interesting experiment - not wholly successful, but with enough good points to make it worth a watch.