uhhhh, Sinise?
Danny Devito is perfectly cast in “Jack the Bear”, a coming-of-age story with a few clever ideas surrounded by maudlin execution. The screenplay comes from Steve Zaillian, who would go on to win the screenplay Oscar for “Schindler’s List” this very same year and also become one of the hottest writers in Hollywood (“The Irishman”, “Moneyball”). But this film sadly feels like a first draft.
Devito plays John Leary, a widower struggling with the death of his wife while raising young sons Jack (Robert Steinmiller Jr.) and Dylan (Miko Hughes). John’s job is as one of those Midnight Monster Movie horror hosts- which makes him very cool to all the kids around his Oakland neighborhood, but his drinking and constant misery isn’t setting a good example for the kids, particularly Jack who winds up picking up his slack.
John is one of those guys who functions as a big kid- he loves halloween, scares the neighbor kids and is very entertaining, and even as he tries to do his best- his depression usually gets the better of him. This is the kind of role you could maybe get a Robin Williams for but i’m glad they went with DeVito. He has a way of being sincere that never goes too sweet and there’s a morbidity to the character, his job, ect that he finds both goofiness and sympathy in.
The story is one of “come what may”- John and his two sons need to learn to grow together in order to face the challenges ahead. It’s a good story and if the film were just that, it could have worked just fine.
Just what’s the deal with Gary Sinise’s Norman Strick? Creepily played by Sinise, he seems to harbor a lot of anger and has a backstory of losing a leg in a car accident. He also happens to be a neo-nazi and at one point he recruits one of the young neighborhood kids. When the kid shows up wearing a swastika on Halloween, it’s jarring but odd. Where is this film going from here?
It’s a question I had a bunch of times as things get all the more heavy-handed and unpleasant- a child is kidnapped, John’s in-laws take the kids away from him. The Nazi stuff makes us think we’re supposed to ruminate on the infectious nature of hate but neither Jack or anyone else ever gets to that level where we fear they’re losing themselves. Much of the time they face conflicts so enormous and dark that you pretty much get why they always look overextended.
There’s too much exaggeration here and ending it all like one of those “killer in the house” thrillers just detracts from the family drama at its center. Steinmiller is fine- portraying his loss of innocence realistically with both raging teenage hormones and brattiness and he works well with not only DeVito but with Reese Witherspoon, in her second film playing his teen dream girl.
Scenes of real family togetherness work. But scenes where Sinise is meant to be the threat that really brings them all back together just feels manipulative. Watching this movie in the beginning, we liked seeing a family trying to work out their issues, but the film takes a shortcut. By putting a gun to their head- maybe everyone figures out what’s important, but does that really provide any catharsis for any of the issues?