Secondhand Lions Review
by Karina Montgomery (karina AT cinerina DOT com)September 25th, 2003
Secondhand Lions
Rental with Snacks
I walked out of the theatre feeling very Hollywoodized, but I really didn't mind. It was still satisfying to let these people do it to me. Sir Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, and Haley Joel Osment are all such gifted and diverse actors who are a pleasure to watch no matter what. To watch them fuse their unique styles into this rural Texan tale of adventure and loss is even lovelier than the story deserves. Tim McCanlies (Iron Giant, Dancer TX) directs this little epic, and I liked Lions for the same reasons I liked those other two movies: they were just so gol-darn sincere and touching and beautifully rendered. After I left Lions, however, I was more consciously aware of a level of contrivance that I did not feel when actually in the seats. In the wrong hands, this would have been a maudlin, embarrassing story, but in McCanlies' hands, it feels like a cozy friend.
Flip flopping between languid Texas porch sits and Indiana Jones-esque adventure, the story struggles to find its legs until enough clues fall into place that we the audience can make our own decision. At first the flashbacks (excitingly scored by Patrick Doyle) seem horribly corny, but then you get the swing of it. The curmudgeonly brothers are like most old country fogies that people generally discount, but everyone has a story. Most often, the story that you can't read on someone's face is the most interesting one of all. Osment is dumped unceremoniously into their lives, along with an actual secondhand lion and a whole passel of rumors. He disappeared for a while, during his awkward phase, and he comes out ripe and tall and still able to make me cry just by looking just such a way. How does he do it? He holds his own easily with warhorses Duvall and Caine, and any scene with the three of them is much better than the screenwriter deserves credit for. Osment's mom, the hugely unappreciated Kyra Sedgwick, is simply perfect.
The dialogue is nice and sparse - the actors give us so much around the edges. These misplanted, transplanted adventurers are stuck and we know it's up to Osment to unstick them, and up to them to give him bravery and faith. So it happens, I didn't have to tell you that. But you didn't know they would shoot at their dialect coach, Joe Stevens, did you? Well, it was shot within 100 miles of Austin, so I figured they would. And when one's loss of his first love is echoed by another's, you just can't help but feel it. Sure, it kind of has that neatly put together 1950's drama class feel, but it's so rich with believable emotion (despite what could have been incredibly melodramatic) you just have to go with it.
Look for fun bit parts by Texas hotties Adrian Pasdar and Josh Lucas, who is Osment grown up, and I am sure you will recognize the artwork. Some barbecue and Shiner Bock on top of that and I am ready for a quick vacation back to the Lone Star State.
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These reviews (c) 2003 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
