This movie opens with Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton as prospective adoptive parents trying to make their case for application. The three agency characters shown are bureaucratic caricatures except for occasional interjections of nasty and misanthropic attempts at humor that no bureaucrat would risk losing her (or his) job to make. It is during this time that to explain "what experiences have prepared them for parenthood" that they tell their tales of "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" in flashback.
Having been told finally that natural parenthood is impossible for them, the Greens perform one final exercise of writing down what their perfect child would be like, then putting them in a box and burning it. Lo and behold, Timothy (the only boy name selected) comes out of the garden and behaves with all the characteristics they imagined as time unfolds, one pronounced trait at a time.
I love good fantasies but they should be internally consistent within the rules of the fantasy world they create. This one isn't close. I also enjoy feel-good movies - one description many reviewers use for this. This movie has an awful lot of misanthropic characters and humor for a feel-good movie. It plays to me more like an ironic fantasy of Raold Dahl (Matilda, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, etc.) without the sharp wit or the internal consistency.
You know you are in trouble when the kindest and sweetest of the supporting characters is played by M. Emmett Walsh. David Morse, normally a personal favorite, plays Edgerton's father so devoid of humanity that we never get a clear view of his face. Rosemarie DeWitt (Tara's sister in the US of Tara) plays a stereotyped condescending, judgmental, and catty sister. Michael Arden is still another sarcastic "friend" and co-worker with his own agenda. Diane Wiest, another favorite and generally wonderful in fantasy (Edward Scisssorhands), is so nasty and unlikable that her transformation seems ridiculous. The untalented Ron Livingston is even nastier and less convincing than usual as Edgerton's slimy boss. Edgerton is no better than adequate as the husband. CJ Adams is marvelous and thoroughly credible as the Timothy Green he creates and Jennifer Garner does manage to move my heart as contrived and nasty as the script is. These are two standout performances far better than this movie deserves.
One real problem is that even though Timothy's appearance, transformation, deeds, and exit actions are magical, that magic is nowhere to be seen or appreciated on-screen. This makes the movie a pointless and dense 105-minute talk-fest for kids and pointless and unlikable for most adults looking for entertainment. Another major problem, given how contentious and nasty the Green's friends and relatives are and given the mysterious appearance of this boy and the movie's small-company-town atmosphere, how is it that nobody has asked questions to the local adoption agency about this boy or seriously investigates where he came from. Finally, the people and town also seem too affluent and dress too well for a company town whose main business is failing. Also, how is it that Dianne Wiest who runs the company where Garner works is suddenly on-stage for the climactic scene in the pencil company where Ron Livingston takes credit for Green's invention? What is the soccer coach doing there? Has the movie suddenly morphed into Gung Ho?
I could continue to go into the inconsistency of Timothy's homilies about his gifts and the couple actually getting a kid form the bureaucrats, but that too would be pointless.
Having been told finally that natural parenthood is impossible for them, the Greens perform one final exercise of writing down what their perfect child would be like, then putting them in a box and burning it. Lo and behold, Timothy (the only boy name selected) comes out of the garden and behaves with all the characteristics they imagined as time unfolds, one pronounced trait at a time.
I love good fantasies but they should be internally consistent within the rules of the fantasy world they create. This one isn't close. I also enjoy feel-good movies - one description many reviewers use for this. This movie has an awful lot of misanthropic characters and humor for a feel-good movie. It plays to me more like an ironic fantasy of Raold Dahl (Matilda, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, etc.) without the sharp wit or the internal consistency.
You know you are in trouble when the kindest and sweetest of the supporting characters is played by M. Emmett Walsh. David Morse, normally a personal favorite, plays Edgerton's father so devoid of humanity that we never get a clear view of his face. Rosemarie DeWitt (Tara's sister in the US of Tara) plays a stereotyped condescending, judgmental, and catty sister. Michael Arden is still another sarcastic "friend" and co-worker with his own agenda. Diane Wiest, another favorite and generally wonderful in fantasy (Edward Scisssorhands), is so nasty and unlikable that her transformation seems ridiculous. The untalented Ron Livingston is even nastier and less convincing than usual as Edgerton's slimy boss. Edgerton is no better than adequate as the husband. CJ Adams is marvelous and thoroughly credible as the Timothy Green he creates and Jennifer Garner does manage to move my heart as contrived and nasty as the script is. These are two standout performances far better than this movie deserves.
One real problem is that even though Timothy's appearance, transformation, deeds, and exit actions are magical, that magic is nowhere to be seen or appreciated on-screen. This makes the movie a pointless and dense 105-minute talk-fest for kids and pointless and unlikable for most adults looking for entertainment. Another major problem, given how contentious and nasty the Green's friends and relatives are and given the mysterious appearance of this boy and the movie's small-company-town atmosphere, how is it that nobody has asked questions to the local adoption agency about this boy or seriously investigates where he came from. Finally, the people and town also seem too affluent and dress too well for a company town whose main business is failing. Also, how is it that Dianne Wiest who runs the company where Garner works is suddenly on-stage for the climactic scene in the pencil company where Ron Livingston takes credit for Green's invention? What is the soccer coach doing there? Has the movie suddenly morphed into Gung Ho?
I could continue to go into the inconsistency of Timothy's homilies about his gifts and the couple actually getting a kid form the bureaucrats, but that too would be pointless.