This is a rather frustrating film in that it seems to have such potential but falls woefully flat. It is a very loose adaptation of John Irving's novel, "A Prayer for Owen Meany;" in fact it's such an oversimplification that Irving requested the title character's name change and has the credits read, "suggested by" instead of "based on." Without having read the book, but knowing a little about it, I'm sure there is much greater stuff in the source material. What the movie amounts to is a schmaltzy, good-humored, tear-jerker wannabe. It is shameless in its use of manipulation to move forward the story. It practically forces its humor and pathos on the viewer. The director and screenwriter, Mark Steven Johnson, seems to literally indicate to the audience that here's a funny moment, you should laugh, and now get ready to cry, this is poignant. I felt so emotionally distanced from these types of scenes, it was extremely difficult to enjoy the parts of the story that worked. The best bits were of the strengths of the bond of a friendship between outcasts and the non-traditional family. The religious meditations on faith and predestination are rather clumsy and obtuse, while the foreshadowing is unbearably blunt. The movie is never allowed to work on a more dramatic level and settles for being a lighter piece of overly sweet confection. Good period tunes (from the 1960's) seem jarringly out of place with the tone of the story, and the score is overwhelmingly intrusive, serving to emphasize the banality of the filmmaking.
Review of Simon Birch
