Review of The Good Son (1993) by Kayla — 25 Aug 2008

Sometimes, kids crave attention. Some say it's unrealistic to go the measures that Macaulay Culkin goes to in this movie. To me, Culkin's character is a sosiopathic attention seeking lunatic. And it was intriguing to say the least. But the execution of everything else, was just downright boring among other things.

I truly believe that if this had been a character study, done by a great director like Sidney Lumet, or Roman Polanski, or any great director, this could've been an excellent movie.

Instead we just get a movie, trying to give Culkin another box office hot. This is pretty much the pin pointed center of when his career and his star power, dropped off.

The movie actually mostly centers around Elijah Wood, as a cousin, who just lost his mother. His Dad's brother, has convinced him, to let his son spend some time with his family, so he (Wood's father, played by David Morse) can grieve on his own.

Soon, Henry & Mark (Wood), embark on a close friendship. But of course, things start happening, and you can see them coming a mile away.

Also, I thought Wendy Crewson was terribly cast as Susan (Henry's mom), and I found Wood's character (who I normally find to be a good actor), not one I could get into.

This movie might've been one of my picks for the all time worst I've ever seen, but I found Culkin to be so spinechilling here, that I'll still watch it occasionally if it's on TV.

Had this movie been done the way I suggested, as a character study, not so much centering around Wood's charcter, and the horribly predictable run of the mill incidents. Who knows if an Oscar could've been in the works, if he were given the right script, and a much better plot.