Martian Child

Starring: John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Bobby Coleman, Amanda Peet, Sophie Okonedo, Oliver Platt, Richard Schiff

Written by: Seth Bass and Jonathan Tolins

Directed by: Menno Meyjes

Distributor: New Line Cinema

Rated: PG

There’s something sinister about professional child actors. The more time a kid spends being professionally cute, the more likely it seems that kid will develop a socially detached vanity that results in rehab, prison and/or ironic, post-career appearances on VH1 later in life. Perhaps in anticipation of their ugly futures, most child actors seem to be able to act astonishingly mature or masterfully cute; they can’t do both at the same time. In Martian Child, ten-year-old Bobby Coleman’s performance is a refreshing change of pace from the usual weird kid in a Hollywood movie; he gives a bright, articulate performance but still appears overwhelmingly childlike.

Coleman plays a displaced orphan who believes he’s from Mars. David (John Cusack), a widower and successful sci-fi author, initially has doubts as to whether or not he can handle adopting a child; when he finds out that the kid spends most of his time in an box from amazon.com and believes he’s from outer space, David puts aside his doubts and decides to go for it.

In silent moments between the dialogue, director Menno Meyjes (Max, Manolete) captures a strangely saturnine otherworldliness about the boy who can’t find a home.
Cusack performs with a charmingly off-key kind of intelligence that balances Coleman’s performance quite well, and in a fun supporting role, John Cusack’s older sister Joan plays David’s older sister Liz. The adult sibling connection between them works exceedingly well in their first film together since High Fidelity in 2000. The Cusacks’ next film, War Inc., is due out next year.

The fantasy here is all too clear, especially for parents — David has made a fortune as a novelist, so money is no object and he can spend endless amounts of time with his son. It’s the Hollywood dream of parenting — limitless resources to solve a kid’s problems, and the triumph of good child-rearing at the end of the day. Martian Child doesn’t lay it on too thick, but the film treads a very thin line. Normal parents don’t have the opportunity to engage in father/son dish-smashing sessions that evolve into squeezable condiment fights. This film works to provide a thoughtful venue for that daydream so that parents aren’t tempted to try it with their own kids. Such behavior just might be as weird as claiming you’re from a different planet. VS