The Movie Nut

Every parent probably thinks, sooner or later, that their kids may be from Mars. But when the kids start thinking it themselves, we're all in trouble.

In "Martian Child," based on a book by David Gerrold, John Cusack plays sci-fi writer David Gordon, a widower who's wrestling with his decision to adopt a child. Lovelorn after his wife's death, and despite the presence of delightfully quirky Harlee (Amanda Peet), David's hit an emotional writer's block. We discover that adoption was David's wife's idea and now he's on the fence; one senses that David's decision to adopt may have been made largely to honor his wife's memory.

So, although David's been reluctantly grocery shopping for orphans, when he comes upon Dennis (Bobby Coleman) hiding in an upside-down empty box, he's intrigued. Dennis turns out to be an anti-social kleptomaniac who believes he's from Mars. (The box is his defense from our sun's harmful rays, you see.)

As a sci-fi fanatic and a former misfit himself, David is intrigued by the Martian notion. Despite warnings that Dennis may be too disruptive, too emotionally frail for normal socialization, David takes him home for a trial run.

And so the two begin to bond- or not to bond, as the case may be. And here's where the movie will either melt your heart or lose you completely, depending on your sensitivity index quotient. Because if "Martian Child" is anything, it's cuteness on steroids.

Don't get me wrong- David and Dennis are cute together. Dennis may have his quirks, but since they're all extraterrestrially induced (at least in his mind), these are cute as well. And Cusack, in my opinion, plays sensitive male indulgence better than anyone. So, yeah, they had me at "Greetings, Earthling."

But others, feeling awash in all this syrupy, intricately concocted compassion, may roll their eyes and feel shamelessly manipulated by the waves of cuteness emanating from these two lost cosmic souls.

The problems with "Martian Child" are, unfortunately, numerous- some may claim too great to compensate for nice performances by Cusack and Coleman.

Admittedly, the film often feels too slick, too indulgent. And 10yearold Dennis sometimes speaks like a 30plusyear-old screenwriter.

No doubt Dennis is precocious, but he's also a damaged kid and, one would assume, emotionally underdeveloped. But he comes across as an emotional prodigy. (Perhaps that's the way they grow kids on Mars. Or, remember "K-Pax"? There are similarities. In fact, if you liked "KPax," you'll like "Martian Child." If you didn't, you won't. So there, that's my critique in a nutshell.)

And the film's writers jump the kid through some totally unnecessary third-act hoops. For instance, will those nasty adoption agency bureaucrats take him back? Will a death-defying stunt end Dennis' life and ruin David's forever?

Guys? Really . . . we don't need the typical Hollywood redundancy here. We've seen it all before and it's already way too old. What we have going- had going- was a nice, emotionally driven story between a flawed kid who yearns for love and a flawed single father who's desperate to give it. A well-crafted story would have kept the tension percolating without resorting to Screenwriting 101. We had that cosmic soul.

Thus we're exposed to some maudlin, silly moments and infused theatrics that struck me as fake. Plain old emotional frailty would have sufficed here. Dennis's fear of losing the perfect dad, for instance, might have prompted his running away from what he perceives as another eventual abandonment.

David and Dennis, face to face, emotion to emotion, would have been sufficient. Might have been exceptional.