Review of Simon Birch (1998) by Natalie Q — 26 Jan 2014

For years my wife has been mentioning this movie, saying how it was good and sad and made her cry. I've been mildly curious since she has brought it up a few times over the years, and finally we got it from the library.

..was this a genuinely sad movie or just schmaltz? Oh it's schmaltz baby, to it's highest degree. Even my wife mentioned after we watched it that it didn't quite hold up to what she remembered when she was 10.

Understandable. Essentially it is about a kid who is about 11 or 12, and is small. He's only like 3 ft tall. He is small and is ridiculed and inexplicably disliked by practically everyone in town.

That includes his parents, who ignore him, the reverend at his church, his sunday school teacher, and most kids. His only friend is Joe, and the only adults who seems to like him is Joe's hot mom and her new boyfriend.

Simon takes care of that situation by accidentally killing Joe's hot mom with a baseball. They then try to find Joe's real dad, which ends up being a twist I kind of saw coming. It all culminates in Simon helping to save a bunch of kids on a sinking bus, and dying in the end.

It isn't really a spoiler that he dies because the movie begins at his tombstone. Dates and all. It is very sappy and kind of forces the tears upon you, rather than coming across naturally sad. People accuse Spielberg of being too sentimental or schmaltzy, but at least he has the decency to make it feel real and genuine.