Childstar

2005 "You're only famous for fifteen minutes. Make every second count."
6| 1h39m| R| en
Details

An experimental filmmaker takes a job as a driver for a foul-mouthed child actor and his ambitious stage mother.

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Reviews

Greenes Please don't spend money on this.
Console best movie i've ever seen.
BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.
Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
pwalkerfm I just watched this for the first time on my cable companies free On-Demand. I would say, interesting...complicated...disjointed...but demanding a 2nd view. Jennifer Jason Leigh is somewhat under-stated in this, and the boy is believable at times, totally not at other times. Questions come up at the end of almost every scene, so that's why I probably will view this again. But, can't help feeling I'm watching a "E-True Hollywood Story" about "Family Ties" or "Growing Pains" (what with Alan Thicke in this) at times it feels like an entertainment documentary, with some added drama that I won't "spoil". The fact that this was filmed in Canada is kind of parody of itself in that they make fun of that fact, but yet are also filming in Canada. Ironic.
movieman_kev I had no clue what to expect out of this film. I just heard good things about the director's previous "Last Night", so that being unavailable to me at the moment I decided to catch this one instead as it was readily available for free on Sundance on Demand. Thankfully so, as I would've definitely not have paid for this heavily clichéd, trite and towards the end overly pretentious 'little film that couldn't'. Boiling down to a lame road movie, this film about a spoiled prepubescent actor who runs of while filming a movie in Canada. suffers from sub-par writing as well as hack-eyed performances, most notably from Don McKeller himself (coming off as an eighth-rate Peter Sellers). In summation, Don't bother with this film as it will be wasted time on your part.My Grade: D-
Magnificos I was amused reading the comments from the last poster on this film describing Don McKellar's performance a third-rate Peter Sellers -- because that's what it is. Unfortunately, unlike the late great Peter Sellers, all Don McKellar film performances are exactly the same. He will never be nominated for an Oscar for his acting, nor his writing or directing. Though there seems to be a tiny group of rich/powerful individuals in Toronto who seem to think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Except for about 10 people in the rest of Canada, nobody else in this country agrees, judging by box office "votes".This film seems to come a decade late. Like most Canadian features, it's warped out of time. Maybe it's two or three decades late. Anyways, the "lessons" at the end are heavily laboured and the characters are tiresome and unlikeable. The points it makes with regards to the corporate Hollywood publicity machine have been made many times before, much more effectively elsewhere.I will give it credit where credit is due: the scenes from the faux film "First Son" are pretty funny. I'll say that. It earns this attempt a couple of points. Hardly enough to redeem this disastrous second effort from Don McKellar the egomaniac "director/actor/writer" however, which falls really flat by any objective measure.
federovsky I just couldn't get into this. Don McKellar, who I've never heard of before, just looked like he was doing an impersonation of Peter Sellers. His deadpan approach was a leaden hand over the whole film. Every line he delivered fell flat on the ground, as in a vacuum. There was something eerily compelling about him though, I couldn't take my eyes off him - or maybe it was just that cardigan he wore under his jacket the whole time.The storyline might have not invited criticism were it not for the fact that we were subjected to two excruciating moral lessons at the end (on parentalism and on the childstar issue). Mmm, thanks, I so need to be preached at - NOT.Unfortunately, Taylor Brandon Burns wasdislikable even when he wasn't supposed to be, and his blonde girlfriend character was just a cardboard cut-out. How were we supposed to care? Well, we were all probably there looking for laughs, not philosophy. Problem is the laughs just weren't there. It was all vaguely depressing.