(Originally published in The Gleaner of Rutgers University-Camden.)
Little Buddha
**1/2
Last week, in Speed, we saw Keanu Reeves as a hyperactive SWAT-teamer saving the day for all dudekind from a deranged bomber. This week, he shows us his more emotional side and portrays Buddha as a young man. Now that’s range.
Tibetan monks travel to San Francisco to find a boy who they believe is the reincarnation of their spiritual leader, Buddha. When they locate the boy, they inform him of his supposed spiritual dominance and implore him to return with them to Tibet to enjoy a lifetime of freedom and paradise. This is an easy sell for the boy; his parents, however, are another story. Mom (Bridget Fonda) wants her young charge to grow up normal; Dad (Chris Isaak) is steadfast at first, but is easily persuaded by the effervescent brothers.
Reeves shows up in flashback, telling the story of Buddha and how he came to symbolize peace and understanding for the Tibetan people. His joyful, childlike depiction of the immotral spiritual leader is at once intelligent and endearing. Unfortunately, we don’t see enough of Reeves; most of the screen time is devoted to the monks and their pursuit of the boy.
Although wonderfully photographed, Little Buddha is sunk by a sometimes-convuluted plot and an over-reliance on the flashback to tell the tale. Reeves is excellent, but the movie leaves the viewer with a sense of dispassionate confusion.
Getting Even With Dad
**
Macaulay Culkin is growing up rather quickly. Wasn’t only a few years ago he was playing charming cherubs in Uncle Buck (1989), Home Alone (1990), and My Girl (1991)? Now that he’s maturing (at least physically), Mac is playing nerdier, scruffier characters that are even more obnoxious than the ain’t-I-cute portrayals of his early career.
In Dad, Culkin is an 11-year-old who, seemingly, no one wants. He’s been dumped off by his aunt, with whom he’s lived for most of his life, to his erstwhile, small-time crook dad (Ted Danson), who’s not exactly overjoyed at the prospect of babysitting his estranged kid while he (Danson) plots a major robbery. Naturally, our man Mac hides the loot from Danson and his cohorts in crime, and blackmails Danson into spending a little Quality Time with him. Poor Danson, sporting a comical ponytail which simply doesn’t work here, is stuck schlepping his super-smart offspring to baseball games, movies, museums, zoos, et cetera. You can easily guess what happens here. Culkin won’t divulge the whereabouts of the cash until he’s sure Danson wants him on a more permanent basis and gives up his life of crime.
There are some scattered laughs throughout, but they’re hard to find without a compass. Danson tries (a little too hard), and Culkin is just trying. This movie is a waste of money unless you have some young kids who have nothing else to do.
