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Haim (for those not in the know) plays the younger son in this family (Sam) that has moved to the "Murder Capital of the U.S." and kid brother of Jason Patrick (Michael). I would estimate by the lack of a driver's license but judging on appearance, he would strike me as 14 to 15 years old in this movie. Despite his supposed age, I just want to say how infantile and otherwise "different" he comes across and for no apparent reason. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but allow me some room to offer examples of said behavior.
1. His mom talks about how one of the reasons she left her husband was his unwillingness to accept his son's fear of "the closet monster" spoken in a "spooky" voice by the mom that would usually be reserved for a child.
2. When he's scared, he asks to sleep in his mom's bed with her. How old were all of you when you gave up this habit?
3. He takes bubble baths and sings bad 50s pop rock while styling his hair in swoops and mohawks with shampoo, comb, and bubbles. Again, how old were all of you when you gave up this habit?
For the most part, his character comes across okay. He delivers verbal jabs back and forth with his brother that are appropriate for his age, dresses like a teen of the mid 80s, and has a seemingly good knowledge of the era's pop culture. So why the infantile behavior. It serves no purpose. The scene referring to the closet monster could have been replaced with the mom's explanation that she and husband fell out of love. Show some concern between the characters that is appropriate for their ages. The scene with Sam asking to sleep in his mom's bed could just be cut entirely. Show the garlic necklace reference at some other point when they are just up and moving about the house. For #3, if you need a scene to show Nanook the dog protecting Sam from Michael to establish plot, then have Michael about to attack him while he's asleep in bed. Sam would be the unsuspecting near victim in either situation, wouldn't he?
My final complaint, why do they (the filmmakers) make some allusions to Sam's sexuality? There are a couple of items on display in his bedroom that hint to this. One is a poster that my brother thinks could be either Molly Ringwald or Ralph Macchio depending on how you look at it. But, even if this is Molly, there is a poster on his closet door that is clearly a shirtless Rob Lowe. I'm sorry, but if that poster was put up by a previous boarder in the house, it would have been taken down so quickly by me and neatly rolled and put in a closet until such time that you should put it back up upon your leaving the home. Hell, the two brothers and their mom are moving in at least semi permanently due to divorce. Even if I was just staying very temporarily, I would not want to be looking at a poster of Rob Lowe across from my bed. I have no problem with gay characters at all, but if you are going to allude to the topic, it should be expanded upon instead of left hanging (no pun intended).
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
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