THE KID & I
Directed by: Penelope Spheeris.
Produced by: Tom Arnold, Penelope Spheeris & Brad Wyman.
Written by: Tom Arnold.
Director of Photography: Robert Seaman.
Edited by: Jan Northrop & John Wesley Whitten.
Released by: Wheels Up Films.
Country of Origin: USA. 93 min. Rated: PG-13.
With: Tom Arnold, Eric Gores, Richard Edson, Joe Mantegna, Linda Hamilton, Henry Winkler & Brenda Strong.

After 10 years of riding the high of being known as the screenwriter for True Lies, Bill Williams (Tom Arnold) sucks down booze and pills in the bathtub of his rundown Los Angeles apartment. Hours after his failed suicide, his agent (Henry Winkler) informs him that a billionaire has offered Williams a million dollars to write a vehicle in honor of his son's 18th birthday. The catch? His son Aaron (Eric Gores) is to be the film's star. The other catch? He has cerebral palsy. Inspirational wackiness ensues.

Or so screenwriter Tom Arnold hoped. The Kid & I is not funny or inspiring. Unfocused, nonsensical, and cloying, Arnold's screenplay never allows an otherwise well-done production to succeed. The eclectic cast (including Gores, who shares his character's illness) could have been exceptional. But obvious jokes and a trite story line ruin it for everyone. The film is at its most promising when Williams deals with his teetering existence. Though these Sideways moments are brief and not plentiful, they do showcase Arnold's ability to write for himself and deliver his own lines - though his character ultimately remains petty, unrepentant, and uninteresting.

Gores' character is the heart of the film, but Aaron does nothing to show he is deserving of attention beyond having cerebral palsy. Besides being attractive and wealthy, he stars in a movie that his father bought him and it makes him happy. That's the plot. And when Aaron announces at his birthday party that he wanted to make a movie with Williams to show the world he could do anything, it fails to resonate. Why root for a character that did nothing but make good use of pity? Zachary Jones
December 2, 2005