capone666
Little Man TatePeople prefer smart children because smart teenagers are assholes.Luckily, the wunderkind in this drama is still cute enough not to be a jerk.Dede (Jodie Foster) is a single mom struggling to raise her gifted 7-year-old Fred (Adam Hann-Byrd) on her own. When a psychologist Jane (Dianne Wiest) notices Fred's aptitudes for math and piano she suggests he attend her institute for exceptional youth. Fred's later enrolled in university where he meets a coed (Harry Connick Jr.) who he connects with. Meanwhile, Jane moves to exploit Fred's talents on TV while his mom is on summer vacation.Although a typical child prodigy movie, right down to the annoying kid genius, this Jody Foster directed picture manages to capture the pressure put on both phenoms and parents to succeed. This achievement alone makes it notable. Plus, it's nice to see child math prodigies before they grown up and kill themselves.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca
ovcharenko
Did anybody else notice the "Firing Line" parody? William F. Buckley is brilliantly imitated by George Plimpton (apparently they were friends), who plays "Winston F. Buckner" and his TV show "Live Wire" --- a welcome bit of fun in an otherwise fairly grim movie. I also very much liked the character of Eddie, played by Harry Connick, Jr. Of all the characters, including both Dede and Jane, he did the best job of relating to the boy at exactly the right level of understanding and experience, also not afraid to be always truthful with him --- including when it came to telling Fred that he was incapable of being the (father) figure he needed and deserved.
ccthemovieman-1
This story is a realistic account (I admit, I am assuming) of what it must be like to be a child genius, not fitting in with kids your own age nor with older kids. It must really be difficult for all involved.Adam Hanna-Byrd, as "Fred," is the star of the show and plays that young kid. Jodie Foster plays his mother. The kid's a neat little guy and the main adult characters, played by Foster and Dianne Wiest, are interesting, too. The latter plays the head mistress of a school for gifted children. She and Foster clash a lot about how to bring up the child.The only thing that marred this film was the language. There is too much profanity (six usages of the Lord's name in vain, for example) for a "family film" like this. There is no reason for all of it in a thoughtful, kid-themed movie. Anyway, it's still worth a look.It's nice to see Hanna-Byrd, in real life, is living much more of a normal existence, having gone to college and graduating in 2004
bobjaxon
I've long been a fan of Jodie Foster's acting, and upon my first viewing of "Little Man Tate", I can now say I'm a fan of her directorial talents as well.The story is of Fred Tate, son of single mother Dede. It's found that, at the age of 2, Fred can already read the print on the bottom of a dinner plate. Dede, and the rest of the world, realize that Fred is a genius, but Dede is determined that Fred, while given ever opportunity to expand his gift, is not exploited by the well meaning, but pretentious head mistress of a school for gifted children, Jane Grierson, portrayed by the outstanding actress Dianne Wiest.The story's told, mainly, through the eyes of Fred; however, we also see the viewpoints of Dede & Jane who each feel that she alone has Fred's best interests at heart. We are given tremendous insight into how Fred sees and relates to the world around him. He has the understanding that's beyond most adults but only the emotional experience of his 7 years of life.Through Fred, we can see that the academic world of gifted children isn't just filled with the nice, polite, precocious, bespectacled children that we are often shown on news magazines or public television programs. We are allowed to see that some are as outright rude and pretentious as the adults who claim to be only nurturing their gifts.In her feature-film directorial debut, Foster is able to capture the world as Fred sees it. She's able still allow us to see Fred as the youngster he is. Fred's intellect isn't the basis of the story, just one element in it. She lets the story do the work, and she let's the character's tell the tale. She allows the characters to be real people not just the stereotypes that so often are found in films dealing with this subject matter.Jodie Foster's only directed two films since this one ("Home For The Holidays"-1995 & "Flora Plum"-2005), and I've seen "Home For The Holidays" which I also feel was very well done. It seems that Ms. Foster is being very careful in picking her projects, much like the late Stanley Kubrick did. I only hope her unique talents are recognized and she's given more green lights for future projects.
AD
