People have said that this film is unintentionally hilarious and preachy, just another "disease of the week" tv film this one with Gary Coleman as a teenage arsonist. There is nothing funny about pyromania. A few years ago, Malcom X's widow Betty Shabazz was burned to death in an apartment fire that her young grandson set. Its just that Gary Coleman was such a sucky actor! I wish there was a nice way to say this but there is not. I am sorry about the terrible health problems that he has had to live with all his life. (His kidney condition and treatments stunted his growth). Its just a little bit of him goes a very long way. I admit I liked to watch Diffrent Strokes as a kid, but what is that the poet says, "As a man I put away childish things". What I remember about this film is how stupid Coleman's parents were they didn't even realize what an evil little s#$t he was! Its like he could have burned the house down and they wouldn't have said boo. Cicley Tyson and Yaphet Kotto as a fire chief who tries to help Coleman give able support and Coleman makes a nice PSA at the end about arson, but this film is really unintentionally funny in a lot of ways. I remember when it was first shown on NBC, they had one of those "parental discretion advised" warnings at the beginning and I couldn't understand why after seeing it.
Review of Playing with Fire
