By Clay Merrill
clay@newsroom.byu.edu
Disney's 'The Kid' tries to entertain, but fails.
The end of the movie leaves viewers with more questions than answers.
Bruce Willis stars as Russ Duritz, an image consultant who is as irritable as he is successful.
His world is turned upside down when he meets Rusty (Spencer Breslin), an 8-year-old boy who magically shows up at his house.
Russ discovers that Rusty is actually himself as an 8-year-old, a memory he has put behind him. Rusty isn't at all impressed by the fact that he grows up to be a loser who has no wife and no dog.
Russ tries to find the way to send Rusty back to his own time since he 'magically' was sent without any explanation.
The plot for 'The Kid' is very forced. Screenwriter Audrey Wells does a poor job of making the plot flow. Scenes appear in the movie that don't seem to fit.
Jean Smart of 'Designing Women' fame plays a small part as Deirdre Lafever, an aspiring broadcast journalist from the South who asks Russ for his professional advice in the beginning of the movie.
She shows up halfway through the movie as Russ confides in her about Rusty.
Her character has nothing to do with the plot in any way. During the few scenes in which she appears, I kept asking myself, 'Why is she in this movie?' Yet she appears in the movie to help Russ resolve his problem. Many other loopholes happen throughout the movie, which confuse viewers more than help them.
Willis tries hard to make his character work, but he fails to produce results. The film relies on the physical kick-in-the-crotch humor to produce laughs. Willis' character seems more like a part for Jim Carrey instead of the more action-oriented Willis.
Breslin physically fits the part of the chunky, awkward 8-year-old Russ, but his acting talents are lacking.
His character follows such actors as Chris Farley and John Candy. Most of the laughs from him revolve around his chubbiness or the classic fat-boy-falls-down humor.
It seems as if director Jon Turteltaub tried to create the same kind of chemistry Willis had with Haley Joel Osment in 'The Sixth Sense.'
However, the film's screenplay does not allow for great chemistry between any of the actors, and Breslin is no Haley Joel Osment.
The only character that was bearable enough to watch was Lily Tomlin. She plays Russ's secretary, Janet, and does a fine job of portraying a sarcastic one.
The confusing part of the film is how Rusty is able to 'time travel' to Russ's time. Unlike other time travel films such as 'Back to the Future,' the time travel issue is barely even addressed, much less explained.
Somehow Rusty shows up in the present time without any recollection of how it happened and without any explanation to the audience. Anyone can believe a time traveling Delorian if it's explained to him or her, but this is too much of a stretch.
'The Kid' takes a plot that could have been interesting and makes it uninteresting and even perplexing. The actors try, but are unable to pull the script from its stale mire.
'The Kid' is rated PG for adult issues that could be disturbing for young children.