Z/Web

Predictable, trite, silly comedy that falls flat far too often, but still has a few funny moments. The story is basically a washed up former child actor never had a childhood and thus can’t relate to people or act, so he hires a surrogate family for a month to teach him what it’s like to be a normal child. Yeah, a one-joke premise that quickly wears itself out. What makes it work, barely, is the presence of the “Mom,” Mary McCormack, who plays everything straight and manages to keep things from going too over the top. Still, it’s a weak film and not as funny as you’d expect based on the premise. The cameos of tons of former child stars adds to the movie, but generally the only humor derived from them is having them use foul language. Intelligent. Uh huh.

Excellent little gem of a film. It’s about two sisters, 15 and 11, who are on their own when the oldest, Lo, discovers she’s pregnant. Realizing she’s in over her head, she and her little sister Manny kidnap a maternity store clerk to help her deliver the baby. Funny as a black comedy, with oddly touching performances (a very young Scarlet Johansson steals the show and makes the film work), it’s a fun, quirky little adventure. Though nothing too unexpected happpens, I liked it a lot.