We have seen many coming of age movies in the last few years but we haven't seen one as humorous, intelligent, and charming as Tadpole in a long time. This is a movie you just might want to see this weekend (7/19) if you're in L.A. or New York, which are the only places this Sundance award winning film will be playing initially.
Tadpole is the nickname of the main character, who's real name in the film is actually Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford). Oscar is a 15-year-old student who thinks medical definitions of human body parts is poetic and also reads and quotes Voltaire. Oscar is not the kind of boy who listens to contemporary pop music or date girls his own age, he finds them beneath him. He is also the song of a prominent Professor at Columbia University and goes to Chauncey, a private school for rich smart kids it seems. Since he is highly intelligent, good-looking and cultured, he has one girl in particular who has a crush on him. But it doesn't matter; he is in love with someone else, a woman. Her name is Eve (Sigourney Weaver) and she is his stepmother! This creates for all sorts of tension and humor.
The acting in this film is surprisingly excellent. Sigourney Weaver is great as Eve, the middle aged wife of a boring college professor who has a "void" in her life. John Ritter is also very good (and didn't look as old as I thought he would) as her husband Professor Stanley Grubman. Newcomer Aaron Stanford successfully steals the movie as the main character in his first film. Bebe Neuwirth is outrageous as Eve's sexually charged best friend. Every time she opens her mouth or makes a face it is enough to make you laugh.
This movie is filled with Voltaire quotes which breaks up the scenes, and has pretentious characters. I don't think this film is taking it's pretentiousness seriously so therefore the fact that it is pretentious does not work against it, in this case it works for it.
The movie goes through the different relationships the people have with each other and that is thoughtful and at times funny. It does not hit us over the head with a message nor does it give us any obvious conclusions. Refreshing, intelligent and sophisticated, I recommend Tadpole for more sophisticated comedy drama movie fans. With a running time of less than 78 minutes, it will even keep members of the Short Attention Span theater content. This is the indie artsie fartsie coming of age film, with no fart or other toilet humor. Try it, you might like it.
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