Subject: REVIEW: BOGUS (1996) BOGUS A film review by Michael John Legeros Copyright 1996 Michael John Legeros

From: [email-masked] (Michael J. Legeros)
Date: 10 Sep 1996 18:07:16 GMT

(WB)
Directed by     Norman Jewison
Written by      Alvin Sargent
Cast            Whoopi Goldberg, Gerard Depardieu, Haley Joel Osment,
                Denis Mercier, Andrea Martin, Nancy Travis
MPAA Rating     "PG"
Running Time    111 minutes
Reviewed at     Waverly Place Cinemas, Cary, NC (31AUG96)

==

     Were it better written and directed, this unaffecting fantasy might
come across as something other than leftovers from a high-powered
Hollywood lunch.  ("Let's get Whoopi!" "Yeah, and pair her with...  that
Frenchman!") There isn't much subtlety to this story of a little boy
(Haley Joel Osment), his imaginary friend (Gerard Depardieu), and the
grumpy guardian that the boy goes to live with (Whoopi Goldberg) after
his mother is killed in a car accident.  Spoon-feeding is the order of
the day and director Norman Jewison (MOONSTRUCK) overstates nearly every
emotion and related plot point.  (The incessant musical cues are also
tough to take, though I didn't mind hearing Louis Prima's "Banana Split
For My Baby" played during a soda-fountain fantasy sequence.)  Worst of
all is Whoopi's characterization.  Instead of coming across as a lovable
party poop, her self-absorbed actions suggest a level of negligence that
might send a social worker screaming from the theater.  Mercifully, the
darkness is cursed by two luminaries.  The kid, Osment, is a natural and
that Frenchman, with his loopy smile and bulbous nose, is an imaginary
giant for all ages. 

     Grade: C

--

Mike Legeros - Raleigh, NC 
[email-masked] (h) - [email-masked] (w)
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