Am I the only one who sees this? On the surface, from reading the description this movie seems like innocent fun. A teenage boy (Peter Appel) falls in love with his stepmother (Sigourney Weaver). It seems almost refreshing, since most movies about stepmothers have her as the hated one. But I found this movie disturbing, and not in a way that sometimes makes a movie worth watching. (SPOILERS AHEAD)

Much of the movie revolves around the sexual encounter between Jimmy (Appel) and Dianne (Bebe Neuwirth),which becomes the source of what comedy there is in this movie. Excuse me? Reverse the roles for a moment. If a forty-something man had had a sexual encounter with a 15-year old girl, people would be up in arms about this movie. There would have been calls to ban it. But when it's a forty-something woman fooling around with a 15-year old boy, suddenly it becomes a cute, funny coming of age story? And it's loaded with cliche lines like "he's old enough to take care of himself;" "you're old enough to make your own decisions." No he's not - he's 15! This is the classic double standard. It's good for a teenage boy to have experiences with an older woman; it's scandalous if a teenage girl has the same experiences with an older man. (I find it scandalous either way, and I'm embarrassed to admit that at one point I fell into the double standard too and found myself wondering why the kid would even be interested in Sigourney Weaver when he could have the incredibly sensual Bebe Neuwirth! It just shows how deeply ingrained this double standard is in us.)

There was some potential here, had the story revolved around the truly rather innocent love Jimmy felt for stepmom Eve, but I just couldn't get around the double standard. For what it's worth, the performances were generally all right, except for John Ritter as Jimmy's dad, who came across as rather uninterested through most of the picture.

2/10

Oscar Grubman (newcomer Aaron Stanford, who is really about 25 years old) is a precocious high school sophomore. *Really* precocious. He regularly speaks French in his normal life, and seems to always be reading Voltaire (the one liners seen throughout the film as inter-titles are apparently Voltaire quotes).

The film happens over a long Thanksgiving weekend in New York City. We first see Oscar on the train on his way home, briefly talking to a pretty classmate who seems interested in him. After she leaves, Oscar's friend Charlie (Robert Iler from "The Sopranos"),who may be the sanest character in the film, asks Oscar about her, and Oscar dismisses her by saying that her hands are those of a baby. Apparently he appreciates hands that show more character.

We soon learn that the hands he really likes belong to Eve (Sigourney Weaver). She's a medical researcher, whose marriage to Oscar's father, Stanley (John Ritter),makes her Oscar's stepmother. Oscar does not seem deterred by this little obstacle. I can see his point, as I am also a huge fan of Weaver's (even going so far as to see "Heartbreakers"),but the age difference is pretty extreme, not to mention that little almost incest issue.

Diane (Bebe Neuwirth from "Cheers"),is a chiropractor who is Eve's best friend. *You might want to skip the rest of this paragraph if you don't know much about the film already.* Oscar runs into Diane late at night after drinking too much, and when he smells Eve's perfume on a scarf Diane borrowed, Oscar "accidentally" ends up sleeping with her. This scenario is of course reminiscent of "The Graduate," although Oscar's age causes some to question whether this is comedy or statutory rape. I vote for the former, and in fact Oscar's inexplicable ability to easily be served alcohol in a neighborhood bar bothered me more.

Much comedy ensues. In fact, it occurred to me later that low budget independent films are rarely comedies, and even more rarely this well done. The writing was was only adequate to good, but the performances were very good, especially from Bebe Neuwirth. And some of the wordless reaction shots are priceless.

The film was shot on digital video and transferred to film for distribution to most theaters. I have read complaints about the quality, but it seemed tolerable to me, except perhaps in the opening shots from the train. What matters is that it is not distracting.

I enjoyed this film quite a bit. It isn't life altering in the slightest, but it isn't trying to be. It's definitely worth checking out.

Seen on 8/31/2002.

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 ****