Watching this movie is absolutely stunning. Not because it is a good movie, but because this immature, idiotic, brainless mess was directed by the same person who directed The Godfather! How does that happen? How can a man have such an incredible run in the 70's, making literally some of the greatest movies ever made, and then go on to make Jack? But I digress. Jack is the story about a boy who ages four times faster than a normal human being. He lives in his house with his two loving parents and his tutor, played by Bill Cosby. Why Cosby subjected himself to this schlock I don't know, but that's beside the point. After ten years of seclusion Jack realizes he wants to go to school, so his parents reluctantly enter him in public school. It seems the smarter thing to do would have been to put him in private school, but let's face it, there's nothing smart about this film. But anyways, Jack begins to make friends and meet all kinds of new people, his age and older. What is supposed to be a heartwarming tale of friendship and acceptance really just turns into a silly and jumbled mess with a boring story fueled by a poor script.
You know your film is set for disaster when it starts with a dumb premise. There's only so many places a premise like this can go, but the film doesn't even make the most out of what little it has to work with. Every situation is predictable, and nothing elicits a laugh, at least not from me. I could blame this on Jack being a kids film, but the problem is, Jack is not a kids film. It's rated PG-13 and has all sorts of innuendo and adult situations. Jack gets his friends adult magazines and they sit in their treehouse talking about erections and women. So I feel like the humor here is supposed to be adult, but I didn't enjoy it at all, but I hardly think a child would either. It's just too stupid and ridiculous to the point where instead of anything being funny, it is all just sort of awkward and forced.
By the end of this film it takes a turn towards the serious, but fails just as much here as it did when it was a comedy. This is probably due to the fact that I just had no interest in the characters or their story by this point in the film. Everything that had happened up to this point was just so pathetic and forgettable that it built a wall between me and the films emotion. Maybe under different circumstances in which the first half of the film had been engaging, the last half would have really pulled at me heart strings. But in this case it didn't at all and I could have cared less what happened to Jack and all his friends. Nothing about this film seems real. It all feels like actors delivering a mediocre script, all the while wondering what the hell they are doing on this set for such a bad movie. Then they remember, oh right! I'm getting to work with the genius behind The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. Only now he's lost his mind and is directing horrible dramadies.
Watching a film like this just makes you want to go back and watch the Coppola classics, just to remind yourself that this man is a genius. And that's the thing. With so many incredible films under his belt, Jack can be easily forgotten and we can all pretend like it never happened. Hell, Coppola could direct Smokey and the Bandit sequels for the rest of his life, but he would still go down in history as one of the greatest directors who ever lived. But even if you take Coppola out of the equation, Jack is still an awful movie with no motivation and no heart behind it. Spare yourself the two hours and avoid this film at all costs.
You know your film is set for disaster when it starts with a dumb premise. There's only so many places a premise like this can go, but the film doesn't even make the most out of what little it has to work with. Every situation is predictable, and nothing elicits a laugh, at least not from me. I could blame this on Jack being a kids film, but the problem is, Jack is not a kids film. It's rated PG-13 and has all sorts of innuendo and adult situations. Jack gets his friends adult magazines and they sit in their treehouse talking about erections and women. So I feel like the humor here is supposed to be adult, but I didn't enjoy it at all, but I hardly think a child would either. It's just too stupid and ridiculous to the point where instead of anything being funny, it is all just sort of awkward and forced.
By the end of this film it takes a turn towards the serious, but fails just as much here as it did when it was a comedy. This is probably due to the fact that I just had no interest in the characters or their story by this point in the film. Everything that had happened up to this point was just so pathetic and forgettable that it built a wall between me and the films emotion. Maybe under different circumstances in which the first half of the film had been engaging, the last half would have really pulled at me heart strings. But in this case it didn't at all and I could have cared less what happened to Jack and all his friends. Nothing about this film seems real. It all feels like actors delivering a mediocre script, all the while wondering what the hell they are doing on this set for such a bad movie. Then they remember, oh right! I'm getting to work with the genius behind The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. Only now he's lost his mind and is directing horrible dramadies.
Watching a film like this just makes you want to go back and watch the Coppola classics, just to remind yourself that this man is a genius. And that's the thing. With so many incredible films under his belt, Jack can be easily forgotten and we can all pretend like it never happened. Hell, Coppola could direct Smokey and the Bandit sequels for the rest of his life, but he would still go down in history as one of the greatest directors who ever lived. But even if you take Coppola out of the equation, Jack is still an awful movie with no motivation and no heart behind it. Spare yourself the two hours and avoid this film at all costs.