Childstar
Hollywood's most celebrated TV child star (Mark Rendall) comes to Toronto, accompanied by his mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh), to make a blockbuster action movie. But when pressures become too much, the child star goes AWOL.
Member Reviews
Childstar - julianrjh
This movie is really disappointing - it doesn't have much to say about childstars, although it really really wants you to think it does.
Jennifer Jason Leigh is pretty dreary here, she seems really bored by the whole project, and frankly, I don't blame her. There's really nothing for anyone to do. Don McKellar, who came across as quirky and interesting in his past films, here comes across like a pretentious snob. I hated his character here.
I would say skip it. It's not really worth watching.All over the place. - cathyottawa
And not in a good way.
I wanted to like this. I love Don McKellar (who co-wrote, directed, and stars in this). Twitch City is one of my favorite shows of all time. But this was just painful to sit through.
It starts out your typical satire, poised to skewer the Hollywood machine, that views child stars as cash cows that need to be milked dry before puberty sets in.
But then it starts to take on an unexpected serious tone, and you think, oh no, it's going to be about this child star bonding with McKellar's character, and learning life lessons, and becoming a nice kid after all....and it totally goes there. There, and beyond to even more terrible and bizarre places.
Do you think Macaulay Culkin, at the hight of his childhood fame, could have run away from home, and snuck into a bar at the age of 12, and danced and drank the night away, without anyone noticing? Well, this movie says, you bet!
And it just gets worse from there folks.
After a lot of overwrought drama, the film tries to flip back to satire for a while, before settling into an insufferably cheezy ending.
Does it make a comment about how Hollywood, and society in general treats child stars? Yes. But it sure isn't saying anything new or profound on the subject. Cameos from Alan Thicke and Eric Stoltz don't help, nor does having Jennifer Jason Leigh star as the boy's mother. What a colossal disappointment.Typical Film Festival Movie - DeRat
Not a horrible show, but a typical film festival type flick… Don McKellar, the main adult character, stars, writes and directs this film – and apparently that’s his trade mark, but he doesn’t normally do comedies… as a comedy I think this film is a flop, the humor is subtle to the point of not being funny. But it has an interesting commentary on child “stars” and has some engaging moments – I was entertained but I did not laugh… well maybe once, but most drama’s give you that soo… – I watched the behind the scenes and realized that his sense of humor is just very different than mine – some of the scenes they laugh at while filming are just not funny. But he breaks a rib laughing…no really apparently he broke a rib from laughing and coughing so hard at one scene that I thought was a dumb scene and purposely made that way as it was about a cheesy movie within this movie… worth a watch if you’ve seen the rest of the stuff on the shelf, but as a drama not a comedy.
Member Reviews
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Childstar - julianrjh
This movie is really disappointing - it doesn't have much to say about childstars, although it really really wants you to think it does.
Jennifer Jason Leigh is pretty dreary here, she seems really bored by the whole project, and frankly, I don't blame ...All over the place. - cathyottawa
And not in a good way.
I wanted to like this. I love Don McKellar (who co-wrote, directed, and stars in this). Twitch City is one of my favorite shows of all time. But this was just painful to sit through.
It starts out your typical satire, ...Typical Film Festival Movie - DeRat
Not a horrible show, but a typical film festival type flick… Don McKellar, the main adult character, stars, writes and directs this film – and apparently that’s his trade mark, but he doesn’t normally do comedies… as a comedy I think this film is a flop, the ...