FULL GROWN MEN A film review …

FULL GROWN MEN
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2007 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****):  * 1/2

A good idea does not a movie make. In director David Munro's FULL GROWN
MEN, we meet Alby Cutrera (Matt McGrath), a man who refuses to leave his
childhood behind.

"I want to go back to the past. Who wouldn't? When you're a kid, it's your
job to have fun," Alby explains to us in the voice-over introduction to the
story.

When we meet Alby, he is busying stuffing what his wife Suzanne (Katie
Kreisler) calls his "dolls" into a suitcase. Alby doesn't view his
extensive collection of stuffed animals and action figures as merely dolls.
He plays with them regularly, and he clearly has great love and respect for
each and every one of them.

Alby's son of about four years old thinks his dad is pretty cool, since they
are functionally both kids. Not acting mentally challenged, Alby appears to
be a guy who has just decided that kids have more fun, so he wants to stay
one forever. In his neighborhood we see kids having a blast playing with
water toys, slides and hoses. Childhood does look like a lot of fun indeed.

Storming out of the house, Alby goes to live with his mother, who turns out
to be suffering from some form of dementia — a hint that Alby may have some
unseen problems.

Alby decides to hook up with Elias Guber (Judah Friedlander), his buddy
since kindergarten who now teaches developmentally disabled kids. Together
they are off to DiggityLand, and its Enchanted Castle looms large in their
minds. Along the way, they meet a weirdo hitchhiker (Alan Cumming) with a
gun that doesn't work, and also a sleazy guy with a chest full of bling.
The latter is an action figure collector and quasi-philosopher. "Being a
kid was rotten," he explains to Alby and Elias. "But people don't remember
that part."

I'm afraid that all I will remember of FULL GROWN MEN is that it was a
comedy that forgot to be funny and a drama that had trouble getting to its
points. Its setup is promising, so maybe someday someone will be able to
devise a better script. And, since the acting was never convincing or
interesting, another cast would also be in order.