Just perfect...

How sad is this?

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

"One should always aim at being interesting rather than exact" – Voltaire. Never has a truer word been spoken and this film would have saved itself by paying heed. The basic plot concerns an overly intelligent and smugly sophisticated 15 year old Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) and an infatuation with his much older stepmother, Eve (Sigourney Weaver). No prizes for guessing which 1967 Mike Nichols film this is styled on.One drunken night, Oscar bumps into Eve's best friend, Diane (Bebe Neuwirth), a similarly older lady. Diane seizes her opportunity and seduces Oscar like the classic cougar that she is through the guise of wearing a scarf and perfume that remind Oscar of his stepmother. Now, it should be duly noted that if you're a 15 year old guy with a fetish for the older woman, then said older woman could not take any better form than that of Diane when played by Ms Neuwirth. However, the overall plot is not a challenge and distinctly lacks any sense that it might actually be going somewhere until the last ten minutes. Importantly, the last ten minutes turn out to be just as disappointing as the rest of this film.The only pillars of strength for 'Tadpole' are the performances turned in by Bebe Neuwirth and John Ritter. Their time on screen manages to break the monotony of what is otherwise a drab and disengaged motion picture. It says a considerable amount about a film when an actress of Sigourney Weaver's caliber fails to resonate or lift the tone, as even she appears bored at times.The characters seem wholly underdeveloped and the interesting ones appear to drop off the face of the earth almost as quickly as they were shoved onto it. Eve, as Oscar's stepmother could have been an interesting version of the love interest but her limited time on screen leaves a vague and insipid impression of the character. Oscar is an acceptable protagonist, but given that the film deals with a rich topic for storytelling, he is also somewhat disappointing for a male lead with what could have been an excellent show and tell of the Oedipus Complex. The fact that Aaron Stanford is evidently older than his character's 15 years has not gone amiss with either the scriptwriter or the director as the supporting cast constantly reminds the viewer that he is indeed older than he seems, in more ways than one.As John Ritter puts it during the dinner sequence, incidentally the best scene in the film, "it's all very The Graduate." Indeed it is, minus the finesse. Crammed with embarrassingly clichéd musical dream sequences, that would quite frankly make Rodgers and Hammerstein seem like a welcome addition to any film collection, we have before us a disastrous attempt to make a Graduate-esque teenage crush appear facetious. Winnick has failed to provide an attention grabbing look at Oscar's dilemma, instead eliciting the comical whimsy of the protagonist's daydreams to the point of exaggerated (and plain bad) slapstick. Overall, 'Tadpole' suggests that it could have, should have and would have been better had Winnick been prepared to put some oomph into the production. It's a shame to see actors of Weaver's, Ritter's and Neuwirth's ability being wasted on shoddy production values and lazy attention to pulldown's and video field capacity. The result is a half-baked comedy that is watchable (tenacity spanning) but at times lacking in passion. Very disappointing ultimately.

Bebe Neuwirth's performance as a 40-ish chiropractor in New York City who has an affair with a high school sophomore holds the only interest in this ridiculous, inexplicably celebrated independent film shot on digital video. Aaron Stanford plays Oscar, who is described for us as a "40-year-old living inside a 15-year-old's body"; he quotes Voltaire, reveals a fetish for great hands, and harbors a crush on his stepmother, a medical scientist who apparently doesn't notice the moony-eyed look on her stepson's adoring face. "Tadpole" was picked up at Sundance by Miramax, who couldn't market this thing to anyone but the most rabid Sigourney Weaver fans. Weaver does decent work as the object of Stanford's affection, however it is Neuwirth as a sort of updated Mrs. Robinson who steals the show. Otherwise, this is a comedic flirtation with sophisticated manners which is in itself not sophisticated. The clumsy writing spells out everything for us, the characters are all predetermined, and Stanford is singularly without dimension or appeal. * from ****

ONe of the better slices of irony seen in a while that bears more than a passing resemblance to Woody Allen (If it were a girl gunning for her stepfather then you really would say it was obvious).Oscar is 15, trying to be cool and an intellectual, a fogey, and a lot of the humor comes from his pseudo-deep insights on life and Voltaire. Voltaire is no coincidence: Candide is Oscar in parts. Oscar wants the ideal - just in this case the ideal is Eva - his stepmother.A lot of this works because of the characterization and chemistry - Oscar fins himself caught in others' webs, but is somehow a good mix of mature and innocent that works well.All in all a nice effort, it never really bites and thus given the material and nature of the film fails to really skewer the comedy and ends up almost a nostalgic look at how 15 year old boys wish love could have been.Funny in parts and wistful this is a nice film about adult relationships.

... At least, in all those instances where close proximity would only make your, uh, 'liver' break...There are times in ones life where knowing an experience is over can help you to move on; because the finality of everything makes it easier to set things in order. It's often easy for us as human beings to find everything BUT what we want, and in searching for that elusive element, we often manoeuvre ourselves into positions that will cause more stress than happiness. For sure, knowledge would be useful if we could gain it without getting burned, but 'experience' teaches us things. Many times in a person's life will they wish they had the ability to call on the excuse: "My soul is above doing stupid things; but my body got impulses to do them anyway, for you"..."Tadpole" shows us that there are wise minds in young bodies, and old bodies with juvenile minds... It seems to have a genuine affection for its characters, and rarely gains its laughter by mocking them. I vouch that not everybody will be able to decipher my complicated ramblings above, but the movie distills them into a meek tale of growing up enough to get away. Everyone must have had periods in their lives when simple issues became suffocating enough for them to flee. Why do you do it? See this movie if for no other reason than to get closer to the truth.Voltaire would tell you that although your destination may not be pleasant, it WILL be different...