Customer Reviews

Harold

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This indie movie runs like an extended skit from Saturday Night Live, and no wonder - it's directed by T. Sean Shannon (a former SNL writer) and features Chris Parnell, Rachel Dratch and Colin Quinn. Other familiar names are main characters Spencer Breslin (big bro of Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail); Cuba Gooding Jnr. (in a seriously messed up `fro and a role he's probably already taken off his resume); Ally Sheedy (who nearly has a "Short Circuit" playing a "Maid to Order" role) and Nikki Blonsky (minus the hairspray)

Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):

1. Harold (Breslin) has a serious problem, or maybe two or three, perhaps even four
2. He's a newbie in a new town, and has to navigate the deadly minefield of High School
3. He suffers from male pattern baldness, and he's just on the brink of his fourteenth birthday
4. He behaves, dresses, walks, talks and gripes like a geezer
5. Everybody from liquor store owners to randy old ladies to strippers think he's an adult.
6. You can see where we're going with this
7. Big-mouthed, big-hearted, sneaky and insubordinate janitor Cromer (Gooding) takes him under his wing, and together they try to clean up Harold's act (or at least plot defense and revenge strategies)
8. Typical h0rny high school comedy storyline (complete with cool kids, bullies and nerds) provides back-up for underlying moral and ethical issues
9. You're not watching this for moral and ethical issues, so watch it for the nerd revenge scenes
10. Reasonably intelligent comedy manages to get laughs without getting overly gross or explicit. (Even with strippers and randy old ladies)


This movie has a simple story line and a cast of easily identifiable actors, but the real draw is Breslin in the title role. I'd recommend it for ages 14 and up.

Rated: 3.5 stars



Amanda Richards, September 24, 2008

Most would agree that high school is a hellish experience that one does their best to survive. Anything that makes you stand out from the crowd can leave you open to ridicule and physical and mental torment from others. In the pleasant, independent film Harold, our titular protagonist (Breslin) is faced with a particularly challenging problem: he's a 13-year-old suffering from male-pattern baldness.

Spencer Breslin does a good job playing the sarcastic Harold who eventually learns to live with his affliction. It's hard to believe that this is the same kid who starred in forgettable cinematic dreck like Disney's The Kid, Santa Clause 2 (Widescreen Edition), and Dr. Seuss' The Cat In The Hat (Widescreen Edition). In Harold, Breslin demonstrates an aptitude for comedy, delivering his clever quips with the right amount of weary cynicism and a touch of optimism that makes us root for him to succeed.

Harold answers the question, what do the lesser known Saturday Night Live alumni do in their spare time? Rachel Dratch, Chris Parnell and Colin Quinn have small parts as characters that play a role in Harold's life. This is due in large part to director T. Sean Shannon, who got his start as a writer for Saturday Night Live. Obviously, he cashed in a few favours for this film. Harold has a gentle sense of humour that is refreshing because it is never mean-spirited and doesn't resort to nasty gross-out humour. And that, in this day and age, is becoming increasing rare.

"Red Carpet Premiere" features the cast and crew on the red carpet answering questions about the film.

Also included is a trailer.

This is an excellent teenage comedy. Director T. Sean Shannon captures teenage life from both genders. He understands the pressure they face from their peers so well. Spencer Breslin stars in the title role. He is the new kid in school who suffers from male pattern baldness. Harold is teased because of his baldness. Yet, he is a likeable person who manages to make allies. Nikki Blonsky does good supporting work as one of Harold's friends. Stella Maeve is superbly cast as Harold's older sister. Cuba Gooding Jr is perfectly cast as a janitor who befriends Harold. I love Harold's oversexed elderly neighbor Maude in the movie. She is so funny here. This is such an entertaining movie. I really enjoyed it.

****1/2

"Harold" provides more laughs per minute than any comedy in recent memory.

The premise of Greg Fields' and director T. Sean Shannon's script provides us with a veritable gold mine of sparkling comedy nuggets. 13-year-old Harold has virtually nothing in the world going for him - for not only is he an eternally put-upon, socially awkward nerd, but his early-onset male-pattern-baldness makes people assume he's a middle-age man. This, of course, leads to a great deal of humiliation and social rejection for the kid - but countless moments of awkward-situation and mistaken-identity hilarity for the audience. But Harold does have at least two things in his favor: a rapier wit that allows him to hold his own in any situation - no matter how surrealistic and bizarre in nature - and a mature enough understanding of how the world actually works to help him navigate through life's rough waters and emerge a stronger person in the end (at times he seems like Woody Allen as we imagine he might have been right at the onset of puberty). And it's that spirit of knowing optimism, more than anything else, that purges "Harold" of cruelty and makes us laugh WITH rather than AT the character.

I don't know where these guys Fields and Shannon came from, but their script for this film is a gem of originality, tonal balance and understated satire. In addition, the movie is blessed with an array of outstanding performances, starting with Spenser Breslin, who makes of Harold a thoroughly likeable and wholly relatable figure. Ditto for the rest of the cast, which includes Ally Sheedy, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Rachel Dratch, Chris Parnell, Stella Maeve, Suzanne Shepherd, Elizabeth Gilles and Robert Gorry.

Together they've made an endearing, hilarious comedy that grinds the over-priced and overpaid Hollywood big boys of the business into the dust.

Oh the number of has beens, oh the careers that are over, oh just so not good. Offensive humor. Bad acting. All add up to a not so good movie.

Where do actors go when their careers are over or tanking, act in Harold. Every single adult actor that is a former "star," delivered their lines while reading cue cards and were total cardboard stiffs. The only bright spot in the film, the wonderful boy that played Harold, Spencer Breslin. Cuba Gooding Jr. (been on a long slow slide to the depths of don't ever watch me again in a movie for a long time, is a janitor); Ally Sheedy (former hottie, mom now, certainly not Stifler's mom); Rachel Dratch (Debbie Downer - SNL, oh so not good as a teacher); Chris Parnell (former SNL regular, the worst gym teacher in film history); Colin Quinn (former MTV VJ worst old loaf in a strip club); Suzznne Shepherd (actually in Uncle Buck - but the worlds worst most hideous ancient former stripper / prostitute at 70 years old, oh I just vomitted a little in my mouth).

The premise, Harold a 13 year old boy, lost his hair very early and has the huge bald spot; and bunions (why bunions, no idea, made no sense). He is king of the hill at his school. Mom gets a promotion and he and his sister have to move to a new town. Harold is upset, and rightly so, he gets teased by the class idiots. He joins the Geek Squad and befriends the janitor (Cuba Gooding Jr.). Life is miserable until, wait for it, he gets cool by buying high school kids liquor. Along the way, there is some of the worst humor ever. To reinforce, cardboard line delivery by the adults just doesn't help matters at all. My guess, the director rehearsed with the kids a ton - they are all fairly new actors. The director just figured the professionals would do their job without rehersal. Nope, they all come from cue card reading work, so they read cue cards. Oh, they had a very cutesie hommage to Harold and Maude (the movie where an older woman befriends a misfit neighbor boy - wonderful movie); Harold the lead in this film, meets the new neighbor, Maude, the 70 year old stripper. Get it, Harold and Maude?

No it's not really funny. And no, it's not a dad saying that. 13 year old son watched this with me. "Dad, it was a 2 star movie, not good." We both laughed maybe four times - just enough to not turn this stinker off early.

OK, let's talk about this rating. PG-13. This one pushes the envelope more than I can imagine, neither my son, nor I are prudes or are easily offended. Let's run down the list - homophobic humor, a 14 year old purchases liquor, one f-bomb (remember, that keeps it PG-13, two and we go to R), a lot of a - hole, a, BS, etc., about 15 minutes in a strip club with strip club humor, a very old woman hits on a 14 year old, that same woman has sex with a high school student - 15 or 16 years old, Doctor office humor about a prostate exam and ED (hows the boner?), and pedophile humor (you know, the two most likely people to be perverts at school, band directors and janitors; and kid, you're 14, well come back in one year). There was a ton more brilliant examples of demeaning humor. Maybe you love this kind of humor, and so does your 13 year or older children. In that case, this is an awesome movie for you. Myself, it just didn't work.

It looks like an innocent enough coming of age comedy. If you and your children don't mind some pretty offensive humor, then you will love this film. I think for most, this one is a movie to pass on watching.

By the way, Indie film or major film production, totally irrelevant to this film. Bad acting is bad acting, no matter the budget. Bad humor is just plain flat out bad humor, no matter the budget. All the SNL talent in the world couldn't have saved this one.

The cover picture alone inspired me to rent this movie. The basic premise of a 14-year-old boy with premature male pattern baldness sounded funny, but I wasn't sure if it had enough "legs" to fill a 2 hour movie. In terms of writing and comedic value, "Harold" delivers in spades!

The actor who plays Harold (I forget his name) does a great job at capturing a kid's frustration in this type of predicament. He basically is an old man trapped in a kid's body and it's just hilarious to have such a visual contrast. This contrast sets up most of the jokes in this comedy.

Cuba Gooding Jr. plays the "creepy" janitor who becomes a mentor to Harold and helps him adjust to life in a new town. Cuba is surprisingly good in this offbeat role.

The story is well-written and acted by the ensemble cast. It's an independent film with quite a few notable actors but one of the funnier comedies I've seen in the last year. It's not a typical teenage comedy, obviously, but will keep you laughing the whole time.

This comedy is a great way to spend a Saturday night. A funny indie film that has several laughs throughout. With many familiar faces from Saturday Nite Live and a great performance by Cuba Gooding, Jr., this movie is a must-have for any DVD collection.

My only criticism of this movie is right at the end - I don't know why the writer(s) needed to make Nikki Blonsky's character's father so flamboyantly gay - it really didn't fit in with the rest of the movie. Otherwise, I highly recommend it!