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Highly Overrated But Still Good

As Good As It Gets

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Maxwell Kane (Elden Henson) is a quiet giant kid in Cincinnati living with his grandparents (Harry Dean Stanton, Gena Rowlands). He fears the return of his imprisoned killer father (James Gandolfini). He is hounded by classmate Blade and his Doghouse Boys. Kevin Dillon (Kieran Culkin) is his cripple next door neighbor with his mother (Sharon Stone). Blade bowls Kevin over and blames it on Max. Max gets detention and Kevin starts tutoring him. They become friends imagining themselves as a Knight in King Arthur's Roundtable as Freak the Mighty.The movie starts off poorly with the school bullies. They are very much two dimensional cartoons and played by weak kid actors. Elden is basically silent except for his narration. Kieran Culkin does a good job with a nice performance and has nice chemistry with Elden. The movie starts off weakly. Then the kid bullies take a backseat and Gandolfini makes a surprise appearance. He shocks the movie into another gear despite the odd accent from Gillian Anderson and the outlandish journey of Kevin. This is hardcore sentimental. I like the idea but the execution isn't the best.

In the mid 1990s, a streak of coming-of-age flicks were released, each trying to emulate the tone and style of Rob Reiner's "Stand by me" (1986). And so "Stand by Me" led to the TV series "The Wonder Years" (1988), which led to Woody Allen's "Radio Days", "Brighton Beach Memoirs", "Radio Flyer" (1992), "Man in the Moon" (1991), "Jack the Bear" (1993), "This Boys Life" (1993), "King of the Hill", "Now and Then" (1995), "Unsung Heroes" (1995), "The Mighty" (1998), "Simon Birch" (1998) etc etc.These films all employed a rich and romantic visual style which recalled the paintings of Norman Rockwell. They featured older and wiser narrators who reminisced about their childhood days, revolved around small groups of young boys, largely took place in the 60s and early 70s, and oozed a sense of nostalgia.Significantly, all these films also yearned for escape. These kids (or rather their future adult selves) are all searching for a romanticised version of Americana. A forgotten, or perhaps nonexistent, age of white picket fences, carefree wandering, pop sodas and family dinners. Behind all this comfortable nostalgia, though, is a sense of menace. Abuse, suicide, murder, the lingering effects of the Vietnam war and drunken fathers, all linger in the background.Covertly, these films are also implicitly about how early circumstances influence a person's later identity. They're all told from the point of view of an adult, looking back at his past life.This trend started in the 80, by artists who were born post WW2 and became young men in the mid 60s. By the late 90s the "unseen enemy" of these films stopped being about war, poverty, absent fathers, abuse and alcoholism, and started to be about disease and genetic disorders. The idealised Norman Rockwell version of Americana was still there, but now Generation X seemed to obsess over diseases and genetics. For Generation X, misery seemed to be all about ailments and genetic predisposition, like the kids with Morquio's syndrome in "The Mighty" and "Simon Birch" or AIDS in "The Cure". "Stand by Me"- 8/10, "The Mighty"- 7.9/10, "Simon Birch"- 7/10, "The Cure"- 5/10, "Radio Flyer"- 4/10, "Jack the Bear"- 7.5/10, "This boys life"- 8/10, "Now and then"- 3/10, "Man in the moon"- 7.5/10I think these films are interesting if you treat them as a single batch. Stuff like "Radio Flyer" and "Now and Then" have that whole kitschy Spielberg vibe. They're pretty worthless. The Tom Hanks cheesefest "Radio Flyer" and the Rosie O Donnell travesty "Now and Then" are pretty terrible. "The Mighty's" somewhere in the middle.

I discovered this movie while on a flight home from Germany. I was so impressed I came home and told everyone I knew to find it and watch it. It is not an easy movie to find but it is so worth the search. We've used it in our youth groups several times over the years. People borrow my DVD all the time to see it again. This movie bombed at the box office, but most critics have said that it failed because it was so poorly advertised. I have to agree. Excellent cast, very good acting, and an great storyline. It is a crying shame this movie was done in by a pitiful advertising campaign. Don't let this one slip you by. Make the effort to find it and watch it. You will not be disappointed. In fact, don't be surprised if you too find yourself adding this one to your library.

This is a somewhat traditional corny Hollywood movie, designed to pluck your heartstrings. It succeeds admirably making you weep both with joy and sorrow. If you don't want to be seen teary-eyed, don't watch this with others.If you were a kid who was beaten up every day of your life at school, or or had an abusive parent, this movie is a triumph fantasy.The hero of the story is really the secondary Kieran Culkin character the "cripple" who simply does not let his handicap slow him down for a second. He displays not the tiniest scrap of self pity.It is a love story of sorts, without any sexual overtones, about two misfit kids getting together and by combining talents enriching both their lives.