Product Details

• Actors: Sigourney Weaver, Aaron Stanford, Kate Mara, Robert Iler, Peter Appel
• Directors: Gary Winick
• Writers: Gary Winick, Heather McGowan, Niels Mueller
• Producers: Alexis Alexanian, Caroline Kaplan, Celeste Jackson, Dolly Hall
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: January 21, 2003
• Run Time: 78 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00007G25H
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,784 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A clever tale of a young man infatuated with an older woman, featuring a brilliant comic performance by the wonderful Bebe Neuwirth. Tadpole is the childhood nickname of Oscar (Aaron Stanford), a precocious 15-year-old who disdains girls his own age and nurses an infatuation for his 40-something stepmother, Eve (Sigourney Weaver). But while home from school for Thanksgiving, Oscar gets drunk and falls in bed with Eve's best friend, Diane (Neuwirth), leading to a series of painfully funny scenes in which Oscar fears revelation while trying, desperately, to woo Eve. Tadpole isn't a great movie--the strong script is undercut by flat, unimaginative direction--but every scene with Neuwirth flares into high comedy. She doesn't even have to speak; a sardonic glance from Diane sends Oscar spinning into panic, and Neuwirth handles the part with delicious feline malice. Also featuring John Ritter as Oscar's academic father. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

A short but annoying film from Gary Winick, who brings us the astonishing news that teen-age boys want to make out with women three times their age. Oscar (Aaron Stanford) is fifteen, half-French, and wholly unappealing; nevertheless, he goes to bed with a chiropractor (Bebe Neuwirth) and hungers after his own stepmother (Sigourney Weaver), who vaguely returns the compliment. Some of the scenes, involving Oscar the hapless patsy rather than Oscar the hopeful swain, are smartly managed; others, like an overcooked sequence at Café Boulud, prove harder to stomach. The movie was shot on digital video, which means that most viewers will reach for their spectacles before realizing that the fuzz is not their fault. Only Bebe Neuwirth fans, a discerning crowd, will have a ball. She has never been so mean or, as a result, so hot to the touch. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute charmer, June 7, 2002

By 

Anna Otto (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

A movie I've seen just a couple of days back at the Seattle International Film Festival, this reminded me most of The Graduate, simply because both films are about not quite mature boys who get seduced by older women. The comparison stops there, however, because as classic as The Graduate is, Tadpole has far more charm and humor. And the performance of Aaron Stanford, playing a 15-year-old boy in love with his French, sophisticated, beautiful stepmother (Weaver), is just as breakthrough as Dustin Hoffman's had been in its time.

Tadpole, our hero, comes home from school for the holidays, quoting Voltaire and aspiring to greater heights of human emotion. A few setbacks at the beginning send him to alcohol and the arms of an older woman, his stepmother Eve's best friend. Quickly he finds himself caught in the intrigues and complexities of the adult world which he navigates with courage but no skill. The humor comes naturally from the story.

As Oedipan as the tale may sound, the light, sympathetic way in which it was directed by Gary Winick with a 35-mm camera, and the natural resolution of the drama let us empathize with the protagonist and his quest. We've all been there, in a sense, wishing ourselves older and more experienced, while stuck in a 15-year-old body. The audience gave the movie an ovation - granted, a common occurrence at the festival. Still, not every movie gets one, and not every movie gets a prize at Sundance. Worth seeing twice.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars He loved well, but not wisely 3 1/2 Stars, August 10, 2002

By 

MICHAEL ACUNA (Southern California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

"Tadpole" is a very gentle story of unrequited love; but in this scenario we have a stepson Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) longing for the mind, body and soul of his stepmother Eve (Sigourney Weaver). Gary Winick has directed this film with one eye on "The Graduate" and the other on "Oedipus Rex": a pretty potent combination.
Oscar Grubman is fifteen, infatuated with the writings of Voltaire and in love with life and learning as well as his stepmom. He has come home to NYC from boarding school for Thanksgiving and through a series of circumstances, mostly having to do with his consumption of large quantities of whiskey, ends up in bed with his stepmom's friend, Diane (Bebe Neuwirth). A large portion of this very short film is spent on Oscar attempting to keep Diane from telling Eve about the fling.
"Tadpole" made a big splash at Sundance last year and I think it was because it is so likeable as a film and in Aaron Stanford's performance as Oscar. "You can count on me" made a similar impact at Sundance a couple of years ago. So much of what is seen at Sundance is so downbeat and depressing that both of these life-affirming films must have seemed like a breath of fresh air to the judges.
With all that said, "Tadpole" is indeed a nice way to spend an hour or so: nothing major, nothing earth-shaking...just a quiet, smart, well acted film about the heart and where it can sometimes take us.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Here's To You, Sigourney Weaver, March 13, 2003

By 

Exguyparis "exguyparis" (Lansdowne, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tadpole (DVD)

This is a low-budget dramatic comedy that tackles the older woman/younger man tale, throwing in a few interesting plot twists. Aaron Stanford plays Oscar Grubman, a mature fifteen year old who is part Holden Caulfield, part Benjamin from the graduate, and part, as another reviewer pointed out, Oedipus Rex. Stanford's film debut is auspicious-I expect we will see good things in the future from this actor.

John Ritter is effective as the oblivious father; I didn't even recognize him behind the beard. I was never a big John Ritter fan, but here he is quite effective. Sigourney Weaver is beautiful and sexy as the stepmother (she should be the poster child for "aging gracefully"!). Bebe Neuwirth is hysterical and wonderful as Diane, the older woman who introduces Oscar to the joys of sex. The scene in the restaurant, where Oscar meets some of Diane's friends, is priceless, and all her scenes with Aaron Stanford are delightful.

I found the film to be upbeat, fun, funny, and an enjoyable portrait of the challenges of growing up and learning about sex.