Fun Size - Movie Review

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

You know you're in trouble when a madcap comedy is unable to even raise a smile. And it's worse when it strains to include a sentimentally emotional subplot without grounding anything in believable characters or situations. All that's left is a lot of corny toilet humour and eye-rollingly limp schmaltz. Even a decent cast can't rescue this one.

It all happens on one Halloween night in Ohio, when brainy 18-year-old Wren (Justice) and her oversexed pal April (Levy) plan to attend the party of the year hosted by the school hottie. But Wren's mother (Handler) runs off to her own party, leaving Wren in charge of her mischievous 8-year-old brother Albert (Nicoll), who hasn't spoken a word since their father died a year earlier. And Albert quickly ditches Wren, running off for an adventure with a lovelorn convenience store employee (Middleditch). To find him, Wren gets help from the nerdy Roosevelt (Mann), who has a crush on her.

The premise has potential, blending Adventures in Babysitting and Home Alone along with a bit of emotional subtext. But the screenwriters never make anything of it, instead indulging in startlingly unfunny slapstick, jokes about paedophilia and a sappy streak of half-baked sentiment. All of which means that the filmmakers waste their solid cast at every turn. Justice and Levy make an enjoyable if unlikely duo, while Nicholl is full of unpredictable energy. But the filmmakers manage to subdue the usually irrepressible Handler in a badly underdeveloped role that's still the most interesting thing in the film.

Basically, only undemanding audiences will laugh at this. Or people who find precocious, chubby 8-year-olds in peril hysterically funny. Essentially, that limits the film's appeal to young boys who will giggle at the poo jokes or young girls who think a chaste kiss is the height of romance. Fortunately, the cast is good enough that none of them embarrass themselves in this mess. But they probably hope everyone forgets about it soon.

Rich Cline

Facts and Figures

Year: 2012

Genre: Comedy

Run time: 86 mins

In Theaters: Friday 26th October 2012

Box Office USA: $9.4M

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Production compaines: Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Anonymous Content, Fake Empire

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 1.5 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes: 25%
Fresh: 18 Rotten: 54

IMDB: 5.4 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director: Josh Schwartz

Producer: Bard Dorros, David Kanter, Stephanie Savage, Josh Schwartz

Screenwriter: Max Werner

Starring: Victoria Justice as Wren, Jackson Nicoll as Albert, Chelsea Handler as Joy, Josh Pence as Keevin, Jane Levy as April, Thomas Mann as Roosevelt, Thomas McDonell as Aaron Riley, Ana Gasteyer as Jackie, Kerri Kenney-Silver as Barb, Zoe Aggeliki as Melinda, Abby Elliott as Lara, Riki Lindhome as Galaxy Scout, Johnny Knoxville as Jörgen

Also starring: Thomas Middleditch, Kerri Kenney, Josh Schwartz