Tadpole (2002)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Gary Winick

Writers:

Heather McGowan (story) &
Niels Mueller (story) ...

Release Date:

7 November 2002 (Israel)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Everyone says he should date girls his own age. Oscar respectfully disagrees.

Plot:

Coming-of-age story about a 15-year-old boy, Oscar, who falls in love with his stepmother, Eve.

Plot Keywords:

Dysfunctional | Family | Dysfunctional Family | Tadpoling | Crush

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Aaron Stanford	...	Oscar Grubman
Kate Mara	...	Miranda Spear
Robert Iler	...	Charlie
Peter Appel	...	Jimmy - Doorman
Bebe Neuwirth	...	Diane Lodder
Ron Rifkin	...	Professor Tisch
Alicia Van Couvering	...	Daphne Tisch
John Ritter	...	Stanley Grubman
Sigourney Weaver	...	Eve Grubman
Paul Butler	...	Professor Sherman
Michael Connors	...	Man in Bar (as Michael W. Connors)
Theo Kogan	...	Woman in Bar
Adam LeFevre	...	Phil
Hope Chernov	...	Samantha Steadman
Debbon Ayer	...	Jean

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, mature thematic elements and language.

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:MG6 | Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:MA (cable rating) | France:U | Germany:12 | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39070)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

The name "Tadpole" came from the game Pictionary. The whole film was shot in about two weeks.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Oscar and Charlie are riding in the car, the scenery outside Charlie's window moves twice as fast as the scenery outside Oscar's window.

Quotes:

Oscar: Hey Jimmy.
Jimmy: Hi Tadpole. Back for Thanksgiving?
Oscar: That's right.
Jimmy: What happened to your hair?
Oscar: I combed it.
Jimmy: Oh. I don't like it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Anatomy of a Scene: Tadpole" (????)

Soundtrack:

Valse brillante No. 2 in A minor Opus 34

Weaver Bound, While Neuwirth Acts

I was going to start by complaining that Tadpole's teenage Oscar, for all his spouting Voltaire, needed a little more Julien Sorel, a little more pride, even self-deceptive pride, about attaining Bebe Neuwirth's Diane. Sorel would have rationalized some way to manipulate his impure love, at one with his purer desire. But maybe some of this is already in the film and the character. Tadpole's best and funniest moments have Oscar and Neuwirth sparing as equals. As soon as it begins to soar though, it backs off. Weaver's directed to act ethereal, and that's what she does, as if she never loses sight of her image in the fictional Oscar's eye. To the film's loss, she seems to act not so much the innocently unaware object of Oscar's fantasy as the maudlin fantasy itself. She acts against the film's fictional reality. Maybe such things aren't feasible with a big star in a small film, but I would have, as much as possible, denied her access to the parts of the script that define Oscar. If not that, then I would have written her flawed somehow, fatally bored through some self-interest of her own with husband Ritter, or overwhelmed with a nonsexual crush on Neuwirth, inspired by Neuwirth's lack of restraint. She is, after all, as Oscar keeps saying, his STEPmother. Aside from Oscar's not-quite-past-jailbait age, and her legal marriage to Ritter, she's approximately as legal as Woody Allen was. Give her the freedom to truly hesitate over Oscar. I'm sure Neuwirth scares the hell out of some of the film's audience. Weaver, the bigger star, should have been allowed somehow to up the ante, to compete with Neuwirth, if not in details of the plot, then just as actress to actress. Neuwirth acts. Weaver's been allowed only to pose and pander.