Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Aaron Stanford, John Ritter, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Iler, Adam LeFevre
Director: Gary Winick
Producers: Alexis Alexanian, Dolly Hall, Gary Winick
Screenplay: Heather McGowan & Niels Mueller
Cinematography: Hubert Taczanowski
Music: Renaud Pion
U.S. Distributor: Miramax Films
There's no question that it is socially more acceptable for a teenage boy under the age of consent to have an affair with a mature woman than for the same thing to happen with the genders reversed. (Witness a recent news case in which a 43-year old female teacher received no jail time for admitting to a sexual liaison with a 14-year old male student.) Such young male/older female relationships form the backbone of Gary Winick's coming-of-age tale, Tadpole, which mixes elements of Spanking the Monkey, Rushmore, and The Graduate into an enjoyable comedy. The film was one of the big successes of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, and spurred a bidding war (won by Miramax). One wonders if the Weinsteins would have dug as deeply into their pockets had the story been about a 15-year old girl and two middle-aged men...
Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) is not an average 15-year old high school sophomore. Aside from the fact that he attends an exclusive prep school, he reads (and quotes) Voltaire, is more interested in a woman's hands than any other physical assets, and makes shocking statements to the effect that life "isn't all about getting laid." According to his best friend, Charlie (Robert Iler, Tony Jr. from "The Sopranos"), he's like a 40-year old trapped in a 15-year old's body. And, indeed, Oscar's taste in women runs to those who are decades his senior. He is hopelessly infatuated with his step-mother, Eve (Sigourney Weaver), and endlessly plots how to reveal his feelings. He is convinced that her marriage to his father, Stanley (John Ritter), has left her unfulfilled and has a vague notion that he might be able to fill the vacuum. Then, when he's home in Manhattan for Thanksgiving, he makes the mistake of getting drunk, then compounds that error by sleeping with Eve's best friend, Diane (Bebe Neuwirth). He then spends the rest of the vacation trying to hide his indiscretion from his parents while subtly wooing Eve.
The script, credited to Heather McGowan & Niels Mueller, is smart, witty, and occasionally very funny. The top-notch cast brings the story to life with aplomb. As the man-eating (or should that be "boy-eating") Diane, Bebe Neuwirth displays impeccable comic timing. She's the main reason why one of Tadpole's standout scenes, a quiet little restaurant dinner, delivers as many laughs as it does. Newcomer Aaron Stanford makes a solid feature debut, although no one is going to mistake the 25-year old for someone 10 years his junior. Maybe one of the reasons this movie doesn't make us squirm as it flirts with pedophilia is that Stanford's Oscar looks like he's legally an adult.
Tadpole was filmed on digital video over a period of two weeks at a cost of about $150,000 - and it looks it. The visual quality is poor, reminding us once again that while video makes it possible for movies to be made cheaply, there's a substantial price to be paid in how they look. I can't agree that the DV approach in any way adds to Tadpole's charm. Winick went this route because it was the only way he could get the movie made. Shooting the film on 35 mm would have improved its aesthetic appeal without detracting from its character.
In an era when longer seems to be better, Tadpole bucks the trend by clocking in at a skinny 75 minutes. It seems even shorter, due in large part to crisp editing and good pacing. This is one of those rare occasions when I wouldn't have minded adding a little time to the running length. A few of the characters could have been better fleshed out (I would have liked to have seen more with Charlie, whose down-to-earth observations and incredulity at his friend's actions are occasionally hilarious, and Diane) and the ending feels rushed. I hasten to add, however, that this approach is preferable to the long-windedness exhibited by too many big budget productions.
Maybe one of the reasons I appreciated Tadpole is that, in broad terms, I can relate to Oscar - a smart outsider who tends to overintellectualize everything, even things that don't conform to rules of logic (such as sex and love). The film captures not the ebb and flow of average teenage relationship angst, but the currents that direct Oscar's atypical life. Of course, it's far off the beaten path for a high school student to lust after his step-mother and consummate a relationship with her best friend, but I find that to be a little more stimulating than watching Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar figuring out who's going to the prom with whom. As is astutely observed by Charlie, Oscar's life has the potential to become a Greek tragedy, but Winick keeps things light enough that it resolutely stays a comedy.
© 2002 James Berardinelli