Huge fan of Paige's, by way of QAF, and I was excited to finally see this film on cable. Not a perfect film by any stretch, but he did manage to take a monumentally tricky subject and, for the most part, make it work.
I thought it was more than a tad far-fetched that his character, Paul, was completely oblivious to how his actions were going to be perceived, particularly by parents, and this was a problem for me throughout most of the movie. By the time we find out, extreeeemely late in the proceedings -=- SPOILER ALERT -=- that his own parents had died when he was very young and we begin to understand that his growth was stumped at that level, making him basically crippled emotionally and therefore unable to grasp how his behavior would be perceived by others, it's almost too late. But the scene where he goes to the gathering in the park and pleads his case does have powerful emotional resonance because Paige is capable of evoking deep feeling, and he does so to his advantage brilliantly here. -=- END OF SPOILER.
This film made me think about Michael Jackson, about how his childhood was seriously marred, creating an emotional cripple, very similar in many ways to Paul. Nearly everyone assumes he's a pedophile because he "fits the profile" but we will never truly know, unless concrete evidence is eventually presented.
I thought it was more than a tad far-fetched that his character, Paul, was completely oblivious to how his actions were going to be perceived, particularly by parents, and this was a problem for me throughout most of the movie. By the time we find out, extreeeemely late in the proceedings -=- SPOILER ALERT -=- that his own parents had died when he was very young and we begin to understand that his growth was stumped at that level, making him basically crippled emotionally and therefore unable to grasp how his behavior would be perceived by others, it's almost too late. But the scene where he goes to the gathering in the park and pleads his case does have powerful emotional resonance because Paige is capable of evoking deep feeling, and he does so to his advantage brilliantly here. -=- END OF SPOILER.
This film made me think about Michael Jackson, about how his childhood was seriously marred, creating an emotional cripple, very similar in many ways to Paul. Nearly everyone assumes he's a pedophile because he "fits the profile" but we will never truly know, unless concrete evidence is eventually presented.