Review of Patrik, Age 1.5 (2008) by Jesse O — 05 Aug 2012

I'd say this is a good movie in spite of the fact that it really romanticizes the whole gay adoption debate, even though there really shouldn't be and the bigotry that homosexuals generally have to face from people who choose to bully them or try ostracize them from society as if they were immoral or not worthy of the same basic rights all humans should have.

Granted the main characters do face some discrimination, in fact the whole movie is pretty much centered around it, but it's done in a neat fashion. I can't really blame them since the movie, in the end, ended up being a very sweet and optimistic story about how people change without really dwelling too much on the more serious aspects of the film.

I can understand that choice, I think it certainly makes the movie infinitely more watchable to a casual audience. And the movie does have some strong performances from its leads. The obvious highlight being Gustaf Skarsgard (Goran) and Tom Jjungman (Patrik).

Gustaf is incredibly likable and he brings that to his character and even Tom Ljungman also brings a likability to his character, because you do get to know him and know that he's not really bad, just a victim of bad situations.

And Torkel Petersson does a good job as well, but the movie is really about Gustaf and Tom. You root for these characters. But the movie is predictable, I'm not gonna deny that but I don't think it really hinders the movie that much.

I'd rather a movie be predictable and make sense than be unpredictable and have absolutely no idea what's going on. So really, I think I liked this movie more than the rating lets on, but it is quite good.

It's not perfect, it isn't as funny as it should be, nor does it go as deep into the complexity of a very real debate, but it is an entertaining and sweet story with some good performances from all involved.