Customer Reviews

Tiptoes

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

How_in_the_world did this movie get made? This movie is without a doubt and without reservation the worst movie I've EVER seen. I mean consider the premise--husband of attractive NY couple is the only big person in a family of little people. Wife gets pregnant; are they going to have a lizard baby? or a little person? or what? And the title, "Tip Toes" (with the classic running line that only hollywood could write "Because sometimes its the little things that count.") Is that title because the husband tip toes around the secret? Or because everyone has to stand on tip toes? Or what?

How bad is it? It was so bad that the only reason I can think this movie was created was as a result of a lawsuit in hollywood, and one of the terms was to create a movie employing all the little people they could round up. It was so bad that it was actually outclassed by another movie we rented -- a shark movie starring Lorenzo Lamas called "Dark Waters". Yes, consider the implication of that statement: a shark movie that blew all it's budget hiring Lorenzo Lamas and so didn't_actually_include_sharks (even CG ones, or heaven forbit ones that creatively munched unsuspecting B actors) was better than Tip Toes.

My wife tried to argue that the premise "sounded interesting" and that it failed on execution. No no no no no. There were two justifiable paths this could have gone down, but inexplicably chose not to -- as an afterschool special called "Johnny's got a little secret", or as a David Lynch movie in which John Malkovich and maybe Laura Dern should also have shown up as little people along with Gary Oldman. How embarrassing this must have been to work on. Surely Gary must have had a moment half way through when he had to slap himself and ask why he was here. I can also only imagine Michael Caine when reading the script would have said, "Not this one, mate."

Not this one indeed. Please. For the love of all that is good and noble in cinema, skip seeing this movie.

After reading the case, I rented this at Blockbuster based on the top-notch cast and what sounded like a good, cute, funny plot. Tiptoes is none of those things.

The acting was bad and that was surprising given the cast. I could not feel any sort of connection between Matthew McConaughey and Kate Beckinsale - much less that they could be living together and expecting a child.

Gary Oldman is painful to watch - he hobbles around cramped into a dwarf outfit. Very Dorf-ish.

And I have no idea what Peter Dinklage and Patricia Arquette added to the movie. They seem like they are from a completely different movie.

The acting seems like it was done in one take. It was very painful trying to make it through 90 minutes of this trainwreck. All and all, a total disaster.

From the box, this film looked interesting, and I've always liked Kate Beckinsale (plus it had some other big names, so I figured it couldn't be too bad), so I thought I'd get it. Gary Oldman's character seems to have two emotions: grumpy and sweet. Matthew McConaughey is always pissed about something, Patricia Arquette and her boyfriend have no real reason for even being in the movie, and there are so many plot holes it's distracting. It was a waste of my time and money.

This started off as a fairly unique film with many characters portrayed by "little people" with some fairly decent acting. Then the script segues into the troubles Matthew and Kate are having while trying to raise a newborn dwarf. They eventually seperate, then they meet to see where they stand, then the movie ends. I was shaking my head as the credits rolled, "What happened to that other character?" "Is that last scene supposed to be some sort of vague resolution?" It was baffling. The whole side-story with Patricia Arquette in love with one of the dwarves is completely forgotten. Also, we are led to believe the two main characters have careers as a painter(Kate Beckinsale) and a Navy man(Matthew McConaughey) who now trains firefighters with one scene having her painting and only a couple scenes showing him shouting/speaking to his trainees. At no time did I believe they were these characters. Also, Kate Beckinsale, while talented and gorgeous, simply needs better dialogue. She seems to be forcing the words out while ignoring any or all emotional conotation therein. In fact, the only performance of any special note here is Matthew McConaughey. He has a few splendid scenes in which he buries all the other actors attempting to steal the scene from him. There are a couple of scenes where he is sincerely emotional and the other actors look like deer caught in the headlights of a Mac truck. There are so many scenes left unexplained, so many characters that are chucked aside for a potentially engrossing story that never comes to fruition, that I cannot recommend buying this film. An original idea, a single standout performance, but not much else here is at all noteworthy. Sorry.

`Tiptoes' is a rare social commentary and comedy which takes on what may be one of the very few personal problems not yet explored in a film. As interracial and interfaith relations have been explored up the wazoo, the very premise of this movie raises a little grim. The basic plot is driven by difficulties between a normal sized couple where the man has dwarfism in his genes and is afraid to admit it to their partner until it may be too late. That is, until the woman has become pregnant. The title, then, is a double entendre on dwarfs standing on tiptoe to come closer to normal height and the manner in which normal sized people tiptoe around the subject of dwarfism, especially in conversations with `little people'.

After `Lord of the Rings' where six normal sized actors are represented as sub 4 foot tall hobbits and one dwarf in the company of normally tall characters, it was almost expected that this technique would be used in other movies, so that `little people' can be represented my major name actors. In this case, it should be almost no surprise whatsoever that the top billing given to the actor in the dwarf role goes to Gary Oldman who has made a speciality of really oddball roles, mostly as villains, and mostly with heavy makeup and costuming. This is not the kind of movie I normally look forward to seeing, but the prospect of seeing another Oldman performance decided the issue. He is certainly among my favorite hard case actors, along with Mickey Rourke, Steve Buscemi, and Harvey Keitel. In this movie, aside from his small stature, Oldman plays the role straight up. In fact, the whole movie makes no cheap jokes whatsoever over the premise and over dwarfs. The closest the movie comes to an easy laugh is when the woman's (Beckinsale) normal sized parents meet the man's (McConaughey) dwarf parents and brother (Oldman) for the first time, and the woman's mother strains to bring up a delicate subject.

This movie probably casts more dwarf actors than any since either `The Wizard of Oz' or the more recent `Legend'. And, unlike either of those two fantasy movies, this movie deals with all the mostly good and sometimes loutish side of dwarf characters. I sincerely do not understand why the dwarf actor, Peter Dinklage, playing the most important dwarf role next to Oldman does not get a credit tacked onto the end of the names of the four normal sized actors. He appears on the screen longer than Patricia Arquette, with whom he maintains a plainly sexual relation through most of the movie. The relation between Arquette and Dinklage plays as a kind of counterpoint to the relation between Beckinsale and McConaughey, almost like the comic relief provided by the amateur troupe of actors in `A MidSummer's Night Dream' play to the much more serious goings on between the young human lovers and the spirits of the forest.

Aside from Oldman's transformation into a dwarf, the movie makes almost no effort to disguise incongruous facts about the actors and their roles. The engaged couple have a Jewish wedding, while both actors are about as Irish Catholic as you can possibly imagine. Also, while Oldman and McConaughey are plotted as literally biological twins, Oldman is obviously several years older than McConaughey.

While this is not a thriller, and while you sometimes wonder whether the movie is really going anywhere, it does arrive at a surprising conclusion which is consistent with it's primary theme, where it is the man with the dwarf genes who has a problem with the dwarf child, while the normal mother accepts the child and deals with the medical problems which accompany a child growing up with dwarfism.

Movies with a social conscience tend to entertain me less than a good action, suspense, horror, or sci-fi flick, but I can see and appreciate the skill of the writer and actors in this movie, and I can enjoy another addition to the collection of unusual Gary Oldman performances. I relish the thought of Oldman's getting together to make a movie with Quentin Tarantino. Yum.

This movie is well crafted and entertaining, but not quite a classic.

I recently rented this film (if you can call it a film...) on a whim. If you get feel this same whim coming on, stop it. Consider this your warning, because if you do decided to watch this pathetic attempt of a movie, you will have wasted approximately 90 minutes of your life that you will never ever get back. The script is horribly written and every moment is overdramatized, turning the good-intentioned message of the film into a cheesy piece of crap that is completely unviewable. In fact, I'm amazed I made it through the whole thing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I had picked it up because I saw Oldman's name (was that really him? he looked so realistically dwarf-like - how did they *do* that ?!), but wasn't sure just what to expect. Somehow the cast came together to deliver superb performances all around, yet with that hard-to-reach restraint that adds such realism. The respect and sensitivity displayed between the characters was refreshing. I think tho, that you have to be prepared to watch it with a sense of half-fantasy/half-archetype; sit back and enjoy the costumes and get over the literal hangups - the same as you might have done with Edward Scissorhands. If you can't do that, you won't be happy. Personally, I give everyone in the cast my full kudos.

One of the worst, most absurdly scripted movies I have ever seen. The film takes what could be a very interesting topic and makes it utterly ridiculous.
The characters played by Beckinsale and McConaughey are idiotic, their relationship is uncompelling, and their dialog is insultingly simple.
The plot wanders with no focus on the crux of the issue.
And can someone please tell me what being possessed Kate Beckinsale's hair throughout this waste of two hours?

I have to say I LOVED this movie. It was very refreshing. I am someone who has spent 15 years working with children with special needs and has seen the problems regarding acceptance of the situation (having an "atypical" child) - especially from fathers -, which was accurately depicted in this movie. I enjoyed seeing the culture of "little people" as a minority group in our "oh-so-obsessed-with-our-looks" society. Yes, the characters were somewhat over-simplified in some instances but it didn't take away from the charm of this nice little movie. I felt that the actors made the best out of their roles (especially Gary Oldman, oh, man!). I would highly recommend this movie to anyone looking for something different from the usual "mainstream" movies.

If you're a fan of terrible terrible movies then this is the holy grail. It was the funniest movie i've saw in a long long time. It's a comedy right? Oh wait it's not!? Are you sure? I'll quote a line kate beckinsale (sp?) says to matthew mchillbilly "You were in a circle jerk with a bunch of little people when you were a boy? I would of loved to of seen that!" No joke. That really happens. Seriously it's the best worst movie ever. Grab a bong, tip toes (lol why is that the name!?) and prepare to laugh your ass off.