Little Man Tate *** (1991, Jodie Foster, Dianne Wiest, Adam Hann-Byrd, Harry Connick Jnr) – Classic Movie Review 5230

Jodie Foster both directs and stars in this engaging 1991 labour-of-love drama as New York unmarried mother Dede Tate, trying to bring up her son Fred who is musically, scientifically and emotionally super-gifted. It is discovered that seven-year-old Fred (Adam Hann-Byrd) is a genius.

Dianne Wiest also stars as a brilliant but cold child psychologist who thinks that she knows best how to bring up baby, the Foster child.

Foster’s first film as a director cares, and it shows. But what is this film? If it is a comedy, it is not funny enough. If it is a drama, it is not dramatic enough. If it is a tug-of-love weepie, there is not enough of an emotional rollercoaster ride.

Apart from the film’s highly professional gloss and polish, which set the movie at around the level of a superior TV movie, what is mainly left to admire that is outstanding and special are the actors and their performances,. And they are excellent, as you would hope from Foster’s first film.

None of the actors begs for too much sympathy or applause, but they are all attractive and sympathetic. Hann-Byrd, in his debut, is appealing without being cute, and Wiest is sweet and charming, yet suggests her character’s loneliness and incompleteness.

Foster’s fans might be disappointed to see so little of her on screen here and she is battling to put some colour and definition into what is written as a bit of a one-dimensional portrait of brave well-meaningness. Still, Scott Frank’s  writing is very sincere and conscientious – and that counts for a lot.

Also in the cast are Harry Connick Jnr, David Hyde Pierce, Debi Mazar, Josh Mostel, Celia Weston, George Plimpton, P J Ochlan and Danitra Vance.

Hann-Byrd is also known for Jumanji (1995), Diabolique (1996), The Ice Storm (1997), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) and Uninvited (1999).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5230

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