Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Scott LeBrun 15 year old Oscar Grubman (played by 25 year old Aaron Stanford) definitely has the soul of someone much older - but not the wisdom. He has no romantic time for girls his own age - he actually prefers women, for their maturity and experience. In fact, he has a crush on his worldly stepmother Eve (Sigourney Weaver), whom he idealizes. In an amusing farcical turn of events, he sleeps with Eves' friend Diane (Bebe Neuwirth, who's never looked sexier).This is a reasonably funny, lightly entertaining comedy about a young man with lots of book smarts and an endearing amount of naivety which is precisely what some people find intriguing about him. Stanford is just right in the lead role, even if he's clearly older than what he's playing. Neuwirth is irresistible as the saucy older woman (just imagine the trouble the character would be in in real life, though!). John Ritter is good as always playing Oscars' somewhat pretentious dad. And Weaver is appealing as the object of our young hero's misguided affection.One thing that's rather refreshing about "Tadpole" is that it only runs 79 minutes. It's nice to see a modern movie that doesn't meander and wraps up its story in such a trim fashion.Definitely worth seeing for admirers of the cast.Seven out of 10.

SnoopyStyle Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) is oddly sophisticated at 15. He idolizes Voltaire and is particular about women's hands. He is secretly in love with his stepmother Eve (Sigourney Weaver). He is back at home in NYC from Chauncey Academy for the Thanksgiving weekend. His father (John Ritter) is concerned. Eve's best friend Diane (Bebe Neuwirth) starts a sexual fling with him and tells all her girlfriends.The kid is self-important and not very compelling. Also he doesn't really look 15 at all which takes away some of the tension. The movie is aiming to be a quirky indie except it's not funny. It's a little particular in its tone but not very interesting. The story is a teen in love with his 40 something stepmother. That could be interesting. This is a twenty something guy in love with Sigourney Weaver. Who isn't?

btm1 "Tadpole" is a joy to watch. It's low-budget and not a long film, but shortly after it began I found myself smiling through every one of its 80 minutes. Okay, perhaps it is not realistic for a 15 year old boy to be smitten by a 40 year old woman, or for a 40 year old woman to brag openly to her friends about her seduction of him, but it's just fun to watch. (However, 9 years after the film release a 40 year old school teacher, who was arrested due to her affair with a 15 year-old student of hers, had the charges dropped after the two married in 2010.)"Tadpole" is a nickname that 15 year old Oscar (played perfectly by then 24 year old Aaron Stanford) thinks he's outgrown. "Nobody calls me that anymore," he tells the doorman at his father's New York swank apartment building. But it is also a metaphor for how he appears to a coterie of 40+ women who he intrigues. Oscar's divorced mother is French so he is fluent in French as well as English. He prefers the pleasure of reading Voltaire, both for Voltairs's wisdom and his satire, rather than to listen to pop music or other interests of the average teenager. Oscar is bright, sophisticated beyond his years, and finds girls at his boarding school (who are attracted to him like moths to a flame) to be vapid and boring. Instead he is infatuated with Eve (Sigourney Weaver, who at 51 in 2000, looked a bit old for the part) his 40 something stepmother. Not to give away too much, but Eve's friend Diane (Bebe Neuwirth) has a major part of the action. Neuwirth won awards for her performance in this film."Tadpole" deserves to be seen by more people. It's rating in TV movie reviews is too low.

noralee "Tadpole" is a delightful tribute to "The Graduate" (complete with an appropriate cover of Simon & Garfunkel, this time using "Only Living Boy in New York" -- and the senior citizens in the audience with me didn't get the symbolism). The New York setting and boarding school holiday vacation are also resonant of "The Catcher in the Rye."The usually done by Jake Gyllenhaal role is here sweetly played by newcomer Aaron Stanford, though Bebe Neuwirth absolutely steals the movie out from under him (literally) with more than one wink at "Sex and the City."All these affectionate references combined, this is still a lovely, original comedy with believable characters who get themselves in odd yet understandable situations. Maybe the dialog keeps referring to them being on the Upper East Side to make this seem less of a Woody Allen movie (if he would write for a different age and a cuter character) but the locales in our faces are actually the Upper West Side.The lengthy thank you's in the credits are testament that this is an indie movie that called in a lot of people's favors. I therefore understand the use of cheaper digital video, but it is really annoying on a movie screen, very blurry. Nice use of two covers by Adam Cohen on the soundtrack. (originally written on 8/11/2002)