While 1994 was a great year to be Green Day or The Offspring, this was not so for the young Macaulay Culkin and his fans. As a 14 year old playing the younger 12 year "richest kid in the world", Culkin and his management must have realized quickly that he could not stay a child actor forever. Richie Rich, therefore became Culkin's last major project until his return to film as a 23-year-old young adult in 2003's Party Monster.
In "Rich", no actor is in top form. The laughs were too few and too far between, especially for a family comedy. The post-Jurassic Park CGI "robot bee" may have even been a hindrance rather than a creative flourish. None of the characters were developed beyond the simple caricatures we'd expect and further stripped of comedic potential. By the time the antagonist breaks into the vault, anyone over the age of 17 probably knew what was inside; that is if they hadn't already stopped paying attention and fallen asleep.
Had the film starred another adolescent lead, we may have been forgiving, but the overall quality of this venture paled in comparison with the Culkin we knew from Uncle Buck, the Home Alone pictures, My Girl, and even his brief appearance in Michael Jackson's 9 minute "Black or White" rampage. Being that it was filmed in and around the Chicagoland area, and that this reviewer is a sucker for anything local, this reviewer feels generous giving Richie Rich 4 out of 10 IMDb stars.
In "Rich", no actor is in top form. The laughs were too few and too far between, especially for a family comedy. The post-Jurassic Park CGI "robot bee" may have even been a hindrance rather than a creative flourish. None of the characters were developed beyond the simple caricatures we'd expect and further stripped of comedic potential. By the time the antagonist breaks into the vault, anyone over the age of 17 probably knew what was inside; that is if they hadn't already stopped paying attention and fallen asleep.
Had the film starred another adolescent lead, we may have been forgiving, but the overall quality of this venture paled in comparison with the Culkin we knew from Uncle Buck, the Home Alone pictures, My Girl, and even his brief appearance in Michael Jackson's 9 minute "Black or White" rampage. Being that it was filmed in and around the Chicagoland area, and that this reviewer is a sucker for anything local, this reviewer feels generous giving Richie Rich 4 out of 10 IMDb stars.