HairBrained (FILM REVIEW)
HairBrained
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Boy
Wonder Befriends Late Bloomer in Odd Couple Comedy
On the drive with his mother (Parker
Posey) to his new school, precocious Eli Pettifog (Alex Wolff) is fretting
about fitting-in with his classmates. After all, it’s not the 13 year-old’s first
day of high school, but rather of college.
The clown-haired boy genius is entering
Whittman College, an elite institution catering
to students not quite bright enough for the Ivy League. Eli had hoped to attend
Harvard, and is still bitter that he had to settle for his safety school.
Upon moving into the dorm, he makes
the acquaintance of Leo Searly (Brendan Fraser), a fellow
freshman living across the hall. Long in the tooth Leo is 41, and has belatedly
matriculated less to crack the books than to recapture his fading youth.
Nevertheless,
these two fish out of water forge a fast friendship as they make the awkward
adjustment to campus life. Early on, we find the pair partying, with late
bloomer Leo generally making a fool of himself while prepubescent Eli’s seduced
by an attractive blonde (Elisabeth Hower) after being plied with alcohol.
The plot
bifurcates and sobers a bit when Eli takes an interest in an eccentric townie
(Julia Garner) his own age and Leo’s long-estranged daughter (Lizzy DeClement)
shows up unexpectedly. But HairBrained is at its most inspired from the point
Eli joins the trivia team representing his alma mater in the Collegiate
Mastermind competition against other top schools like Stanford,
Michigan and Princeton.
Not
surprisingly, all roads lead to a big showdown with Harvard. Thus, the burning
question becomes whether the pint-sized brainiac will be able prove the
exclusive school made a mistake by sending him a rejection letter.
Far more
quirky than it is comical, HairBrained is an uneven, unlikely-buddies flick
that’s only funny in fits and starts. Think a poor man’s cross of Napoleon
Dynamite (2004) and Old School (2003) where a coming-of-age tale merges with a
midlife crisis.
Good (2 stars)
Rated PG-13
for sexuality, profanity, nudity, crude humor, and teen smoking, drug use and
alcohol consumption
Running time: 97 minutes
Distributor: Vertical
Entertainment
No comments:
Post a Comment