Am I the only one who sees this? On the surface, from reading the description this movie seems like innocent fun. A teenage boy (Peter Appel) falls in love with his stepmother (Sigourney Weaver). It seems almost refreshing, since most movies about stepmothers have her as the hated one. But I found this movie disturbing, and not in a way that sometimes makes a movie worth watching. (SPOILERS AHEAD)
Much of the movie revolves around the sexual encounter between Jimmy (Appel) and Dianne (Bebe Neuwirth), which becomes the source of what comedy there is in this movie. Excuse me? Reverse the roles for a moment. If a forty-something man had had a sexual encounter with a 15-year old girl, people would be up in arms about this movie. There would have been calls to ban it. But when it's a forty-something woman fooling around with a 15-year old boy, suddenly it becomes a cute, funny coming of age story? And it's loaded with cliche lines like "he's old enough to take care of himself;" "you're old enough to make your own decisions." No he's not - he's 15! This is the classic double standard. It's good for a teenage boy to have experiences with an older woman; it's scandalous if a teenage girl has the same experiences with an older man. (I find it scandalous either way, and I'm embarrassed to admit that at one point I fell into the double standard too and found myself wondering why the kid would even be interested in Sigourney Weaver when he could have the incredibly sensual Bebe Neuwirth! It just shows how deeply ingrained this double standard is in us.)
There was some potential here, had the story revolved around the truly rather innocent love Jimmy felt for stepmom Eve, but I just couldn't get around the double standard. For what it's worth, the performances were generally all right, except for John Ritter as Jimmy's dad, who came across as rather uninterested through most of the picture.
2/10
Much of the movie revolves around the sexual encounter between Jimmy (Appel) and Dianne (Bebe Neuwirth), which becomes the source of what comedy there is in this movie. Excuse me? Reverse the roles for a moment. If a forty-something man had had a sexual encounter with a 15-year old girl, people would be up in arms about this movie. There would have been calls to ban it. But when it's a forty-something woman fooling around with a 15-year old boy, suddenly it becomes a cute, funny coming of age story? And it's loaded with cliche lines like "he's old enough to take care of himself;" "you're old enough to make your own decisions." No he's not - he's 15! This is the classic double standard. It's good for a teenage boy to have experiences with an older woman; it's scandalous if a teenage girl has the same experiences with an older man. (I find it scandalous either way, and I'm embarrassed to admit that at one point I fell into the double standard too and found myself wondering why the kid would even be interested in Sigourney Weaver when he could have the incredibly sensual Bebe Neuwirth! It just shows how deeply ingrained this double standard is in us.)
There was some potential here, had the story revolved around the truly rather innocent love Jimmy felt for stepmom Eve, but I just couldn't get around the double standard. For what it's worth, the performances were generally all right, except for John Ritter as Jimmy's dad, who came across as rather uninterested through most of the picture.
2/10