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www.channel4.com - : Stories about youngsters growing up in unfamiliar surroundings, minus one or both parents, at a time of crisis (here the Second World War) need special qualities to stand out in rites-of-passage territory. This movie has one advantage in Haas, a young actor of considerable talent, who makes his initially unattractive role the film's redeeming feature. He plays a spoilt 12-year-old uprooted from LA to Vermont when mum dies and dad joins the army. With his grandparents he predictably grows from sullen kid to hard-won maturity. That's it. The screenplay is vaguely chaotic, the direction dull and the rest of the acting variable. more...
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www.washingtonpost.com - : ''The Wizard of Loneliness'' is Rockwell with angst, a dour but cutesy drama set in '40s Vermont where the sap runs thick. And the world is soft-focus, fuzzy and distorted as if seen through Bob Newhart's stretch socks. Lukas Haas stars as a California-bred enfant terrible who becomes an apple-cheeked, argyle-sweatering sweetheart in the company of his quirky New England relations. It's like ''My Life as a Dog,'' but without charm. more...
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Critic Reviews
