You have to give director Bob Balaban and the writers credit for coming up with a different take on satirizing the mindless conformity that was, for many people, the '50s. The film, while definitely not a children's movie, is told from a child's point of view. That's not an original technique (1953's "Invaders From Mars" also used that particular device, and, IMO, better), but it's an interesting one, and young actor Bryan Madorsky does an excellent job of conveying just how cold, confusing, perplexing and, ultimately, terrifying the adult world can be to a child. His world becomes even more terrifying when he begins to suspect that there's something seriously wrong with his parents, a suspicion that's confirmed when he discovers that they're cannibals. Balaban does a creditable job of evoking the soullessness of the '50s, and having Randy Quaid working for "Toxico," a chemical conglomerate, and trying to develop a chemical process for the military to defoliate jungles is a nice touch. However, even though Mary Beth Hurt, as young Bryan's mother--the evil side of June Cleaver--is almost letter-perfect, Quaid is miscast as the murderous, cannibalistic father masquerading as a typical '50s whitebread family man. Quaid is like Jim Belushi--he's just too amiable an actor to be convincing in a really dark role, and though he gives it a good shot, he's just not convincing as the murderous, malevolent cannibal his character is supposed to be, and the scenes where he tries to terrify his son into silence about his his and his wife's activities just don't ring true. Another problem is with the film's pacing. It's just way too slow. There are moments where this laid-back pacing works, but overall the film's slowness works against it, and you find yourself wishing for some kind of burst of action to speed things up. It actually starts to pretty much fall apart towards the end, and the ending itself is just too cliché to be believable. Overall, it's worth a look, but its snail's pace tends to be a real drawback, and the ending is a major disappointment.
