Review of The Good Son (1993) by Matthew S — 05 Aug 2008

Just a formulaic second-rate thriller, bereft of originality and insight and marred by a totally appalling ending. This shit is bad, and barely in a fun way - most of it is just mean. A lot of that cruelty is dispelled by Macaulay Culkin's total inability to play sociopath, though. He just kind of raves like a lunatic, capable of abstract thinking and ludicrous dialogue far beyond the call for even a preternaturally intelligent child. Whoever wrote this hasn't listened to a pre-teen talk in 20 years.

As I was watching, I wondered who the audience for this was. It's a generic thriller, R-rated, and the protagonist and antagonist are eight year old children. Who the fuck was going to see this? But go figure - it pulled in $60 million worldwide. Roger Ebert wrote that young audiences were interested in seeing the movie because it was Macaulay fuckin' Culkin of Home Alone fame, so maybe there's my answer. Kids shouldn't have been watching this movie. Or maybe they should have, as some sort of brutal lesson in good behavior. "Don't be mean to people or your mom will drop you off a fucking cliff!".

Weirder still: Ian McEwan wrote the fucking screenplay!!! Of course, the original product was horrifically butchered by the Hollywood octopus into easily digestible thriller fare. Go figure.