Alexander’s terrible day is only the setup to this
movie. He does have a pretty bad day,
but that’s only the first 5 or 10 minutes of the movie. Before going to bed that night, he wishes
that his unsympathetic family would have a bad day of their own, so they would
understand what he’s gone through. The
next morning, it’s his family who has a horrible, no good day. His day actually goes pretty well.
Each member of the family has something really important
going on today. Dad is an out of work
rocket scientist, and he has an interview with a video game company. Mom works for a publishing company, and she’s
in charge of a big celebrity book reading that day. Alexander’s older brother Anthony has both
his driving test and junior prom that day, and his sister Emily is playing the
lead in the school’s production of Peter Pan.
I had pretty low expectations for this movie going in, and I
was pleasantly surprised. Steve Carell
and Jennifer Garner play his parents, and they provided plenty of laughs. And Ed Oxenbould does a pretty good job
playing Alexander. Jennifer Coolidge
shows up as a crazy driving instructor, and it’s always nice to see Dick Van
Dyke in a movie, even if he only shows up for 30 seconds or so.
I’m probably going too easy on this movie. I’m sure I could pick it apart if I wanted
to. Why would the school hold this big
play and junior prom on the same day?
None of the characters really grow or learn anything, and everything
kind of works itself out just by dumb luck.
But it’s a good movie to take the family to. It’s not too long (only about 80 minutes),
there are laughs for the kids and adults, and everything works out for everyone
in the end.
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