Made for less than $200,000 and shot on digital video, Tadpole doesn’t look like a Hollywood production. Featuring the unlikely cast of Bebe Neuwirth (TV’s Cheers), John Ritter (TV’s Three’s Company), Sigourney Weaver (Aliens) and newcomer Aaron Stanford, this little film takes on a somewhat controversial subject and handles it with wit, charm and a substantial dose of humor. Unfortunately, it’s not long enough to adequately deal with the issues it raises.
Oscar Grubman (Stanford) is a 15-year-old sophomore at a prestigious private school. Home for Thanksgiving, Oscar has decided to tell the girl he loves how he feels for her. The “girl” in question is really a woman who is thirty-some years his senior. She is also Oscar’s stepmother, Eve (Sigourney Weaver). Things are complicated further as Oscar gets drunk before he can tell Eve how he feels and winds up spending the night with Diane (Bebe Neuwirth), Eve’s best friend, who is also much older than he.
Had this film been about a 15-year-old girl who has feelings for older men and actually sleeps with one of them, I think there would have been some sort of media backlash. For some reason, however, it’s okay to have two women involved with an underage male. I’m not sure I agree with the reasoning behind this film’s choice of subject matter, but if one puts that aside, the film is quite engaging and funny.
Oscar is described in the film as a “40-year-old man in a 15-year-old body”. Stanford’s performance, especially in his dream sequences, is confident, appropriately awkward and quite likable. Ritter, Neuwirth and Weaver all turn in adequate performances. Neuwirth, in particular, seems the most at home here, coming off extremely sexy and seductive.
My only real problem with Tadpole is its length — one hour and eighteen minutes. It’s simply not enough time to fully flesh out the characters and make the film a bit more meaty. As it stands, Tadpole seems like a quick sketch when it had the potential to be a damn fine painting.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Buy on Amazon!
