There’s something alien to the proceedings of “Martian Child,” and it’s not the funny-looking orphan who has decided the reason he doesn’t fit in is because he’s from another planet.
It’s the emotional pitch John Cusack is trying for in the movie.
He’s supposed to be a grieving widower, a wealthy sci-fi writer whose life won’t be complete until he does “something meaningful,” in this case adopting an orphan kid. He doesn’t pull it off.
There’s a line from the opening narration that makes Cusack seem perfect for the role of writer David Gordon. He’s a guy, he admits, who “looks at life from a safe distance.”
That’s Cusack’s screen career in a quote – remote, charming, funny, witty, but a little too cool to “get involved.” He may click with leading ladies such as Amanda Peet, as the too-pretty, too-adorable sister of his late wife.
But he doesn’t connect with the child or convince us for a second that his character has to rescue-nurture-raise little Dennis (Bobby Coleman), an orphan who spends his days hiding in a cardboard box, wearing a “gravity belt” made of D-cell batteries (for the weight).
The boy, sort of a kid version of K-PAX, looks at the world through an outsider’s eyes. He has these elaborate, attention-grabbing quirks, which his would-be dad rightly identifies as “coping mechanisms.” Dennis hangs upside down, wears his gravity belt, his sunglasses and gobs of sunscreen because the sun is too bright from this distance. He steals things, but what he’s really doing is collecting specimens, taking Polaroid photos of anything and everyone. He drives his teachers crazy. And David’s sister (Joan Cusack) is warning him of the “red flags” this child’s problems seem to be.
Cusack re-teamed with the director of his clever Hitler-as-artist drama “Max” for this adaptation of David Gerrold’s novel, and that seems as miscalculated as his own casting in the lead. Menno Meyjes creates a tone that is more clinical than sentimental, when sentiment is exactly what was called for. The script and the stars don’t find a real answer for the famous writer’s compulsion to save this boy, and the changes in his mood toward the kid (and the mood of the film) are abrupt and perfunctory – mere plot devices.
David’s lectures to Dennis about the nature of humanity, “We reach out and expect nothing in return,” ring hollow. Rent “Starman” to see how this sort of thing should be written and played.
Dressed in his ever-stylish black, sarcastically dodging his agent (Oliver Platt) and publisher (Anjelica Huston, his “Grifters” teammate), Cusack just can’t seem to conjure up a reservoir of emotions to make “Martian Child” human.
“Martian Child” PG for thematic elements and mild language. 1 hour, 41 minutes. Directed by Menno Meyjes. Written by Seth Bass and Jonathan Tolins. Based on the short story by David Gerrold. Photography by Robert Yeoman. Starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Bobby Coleman, Joan Cusack, Sophie Okonedo. Opens today at area theaters.
