Pun Salad

Back when I read a lot of science fiction, I read a bit of David Gerrold: When HARLIE Was One, The Man Who Folded Himself; he also had some involvement with Star Trek, most notably writing a pretty good episode of the Original Series, The Trouble With Tribbles. But that was long ago. This movie is based on one of his later works, and is loosely autobiographical. I would have probably skipped it, but Mrs. Salad is this huge John Cusack fan, so …

It's about a recently-widowed science fiction writer who decides to adopt a special-needs child. Specifically, a boy who is the oddest of balls, a lonely outcast who believes he's a Martian, only on Earth for a brief scouting mission.

Now, I'm the kind of philistine who sees this setup and thinks that it would be really neat if the kid were actually a Martian, which could be played out in any number of interesting ways, preferably with some gags based on his alien powers, also possibly explosions, spaceships, and other cool special effects.

But no such luck. Instead, the kid has some pretty serious psychological problems, which John Cusack attempts to deal with by endless amounts of platitudinous and sentimental dialogue and tedious heartstring-plucking. (Also predictable. He has a dog. I said, "That dog is doomed." About fifty minutes later: "See?")

So, an extra half-star for Gerrold, but otherwise, bleah.