Review of Martian Child (2007) by Kate L — 01 Jul 2012

John Cusack continues his late-'00s slide in this spacey, whitewashed translation of a semi-fictional novella. Cusack, who never seems to make a film without his sister, plays a moody, depressed sci-fi writer who adopts a similarly introverted six-year-old as a way to move on from an intense personal loss.

Following the formula to a tee, the two then struggle to understand each other for the rest of the picture before feeling their way to a generic happy ending, complete with montage. The film halfheartedly drops sporadic hints that the child might be from outer space as he so boldly proclaims, but never seems to completely commit to that direction.

Instead, it's content to just lean back into an easy, overplayed routine and let the chips fall where they may. Really, the narration is so passive it's hard to imagine what it does stand for - even the shoehorned introduction of a love interest for Cusack (a heavily criticized change from the novella, in which the narrator is gay) is just lightly dangled across the screen before being tossed aside and forgotten.

Bland, faceless and safe, it's family-friendly to a fault.