This is the closest Hollywood has come to doing a Monty Pythonish spin of American society (at least until the SOUTH PARK movie); but unfortunately it was made at the time when America took itself far too seriously and was too priggish to handle satirical jabs; especially compared to British, Australian or Canadian societies. It took the success of animated TV series like The Simpsons and South Park in order to get America to lighten up about itself. (It is very telling that most American critics enjoyed the poke at French society, yet couldn't stomach anything closer to home. It is also interesting that the only classic US geographic stereotype not included here is "hippyish" Californians!)
The movie isn't without it's faults. The "assassination" scene in particular feels like a stock Hollywood action scenario that's been tacked on at the end. And the use of a pre-pubescent boy in a provocative advertising commercial is quite tasteless. But most of the time, this consists of well-staged comic set pieces with the tongue-in-cheek feel of a usual stand-up routine. My fav line is "So THAT'S why we had to stop 47 time!"; which is delivered with zeal - especially in the original theatrical release (you have to see the story to geddit). And it also has in the Texas scene one of the best staged musical numbers in modern American cinema (along with MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING). It is also interesting to compare the fictional critical reaction to North in "Fiddler on the Roof" to the real-life critical reaction to Haley Joel Osment in THE SIXTH SENSE/A.I.
The movie deals with two central concepts. The first is the stock presentation of the young whizz-kid genius common at the time, with the attendant attitude that the World Owes Me a Living. (The prime dramatic example is Wesley Crusher of the TV series Star Trek:TNG). The second, related theme is the way that in the 80s and early 90s, Hollywood (and to a lesser extent America generally) tended to think of children almost purely as undersized adults - with the attached responsibilities and privileges. This film isn't the only one to deal with this; other examples include BIG SHOTS, THE LITTLE RASCALS, HOME ALONE 2 & 3 and even the TV series Uncle Buck. Attitudes have changed slightly since; Hollywood's notorious backlash against child actor Macaulay Culkin, and real-life incidents like the young girl who crashed piloting a plane across the US, and the grade-school boy who was suspended for kissing a girl have caused America to re-think the issue somewhat.
Prior to this movie was the film IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES starring a young Drew Barrymore; and though it handled a child's divorce case a lot more crassly and tastelessly, it didn't receive nearly half the critical outrage this movie did. Even more amazing; an almost identical storyline was revamped (read: ripped off) in the film RUSHMORE; and though it's a lot more pretentious and ponderous in its delivery, the critics lauded it. Apparently having a whizz-kid neurotically stalk a grade-school teacher (among other things) is more critically commendable than having him learn "there's no place like home". Go figure!
One of the regrettable outcomes of this movie is that talented actor Elijah Wood went from playing broad-ranging all-rounder variety of roles leading up to this film; to playing almost exclusively standard rote grungy drama roles afterwards. I half-suspect he's been put off comic roles for life; and quite frankly I wouldn't blame him - though it seems a crying shame! He showed a great deal of range and personality as a kid; and the Hollywood system squelched it!
In summary; this is a flawed, but still widely under-appreciated satire of America's more eccentric social mores; which the American general public (and professional film critics in particular) weren't maturely sophisticated enough to handle.
The movie isn't without it's faults. The "assassination" scene in particular feels like a stock Hollywood action scenario that's been tacked on at the end. And the use of a pre-pubescent boy in a provocative advertising commercial is quite tasteless. But most of the time, this consists of well-staged comic set pieces with the tongue-in-cheek feel of a usual stand-up routine. My fav line is "So THAT'S why we had to stop 47 time!"; which is delivered with zeal - especially in the original theatrical release (you have to see the story to geddit). And it also has in the Texas scene one of the best staged musical numbers in modern American cinema (along with MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING). It is also interesting to compare the fictional critical reaction to North in "Fiddler on the Roof" to the real-life critical reaction to Haley Joel Osment in THE SIXTH SENSE/A.I.
The movie deals with two central concepts. The first is the stock presentation of the young whizz-kid genius common at the time, with the attendant attitude that the World Owes Me a Living. (The prime dramatic example is Wesley Crusher of the TV series Star Trek:TNG). The second, related theme is the way that in the 80s and early 90s, Hollywood (and to a lesser extent America generally) tended to think of children almost purely as undersized adults - with the attached responsibilities and privileges. This film isn't the only one to deal with this; other examples include BIG SHOTS, THE LITTLE RASCALS, HOME ALONE 2 & 3 and even the TV series Uncle Buck. Attitudes have changed slightly since; Hollywood's notorious backlash against child actor Macaulay Culkin, and real-life incidents like the young girl who crashed piloting a plane across the US, and the grade-school boy who was suspended for kissing a girl have caused America to re-think the issue somewhat.
Prior to this movie was the film IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES starring a young Drew Barrymore; and though it handled a child's divorce case a lot more crassly and tastelessly, it didn't receive nearly half the critical outrage this movie did. Even more amazing; an almost identical storyline was revamped (read: ripped off) in the film RUSHMORE; and though it's a lot more pretentious and ponderous in its delivery, the critics lauded it. Apparently having a whizz-kid neurotically stalk a grade-school teacher (among other things) is more critically commendable than having him learn "there's no place like home". Go figure!
One of the regrettable outcomes of this movie is that talented actor Elijah Wood went from playing broad-ranging all-rounder variety of roles leading up to this film; to playing almost exclusively standard rote grungy drama roles afterwards. I half-suspect he's been put off comic roles for life; and quite frankly I wouldn't blame him - though it seems a crying shame! He showed a great deal of range and personality as a kid; and the Hollywood system squelched it!
In summary; this is a flawed, but still widely under-appreciated satire of America's more eccentric social mores; which the American general public (and professional film critics in particular) weren't maturely sophisticated enough to handle.