Hammerle on Martian Child

One of the great things about going to the movies is to have one sneak up on you and literally knock you off your emotional feet. Such was the case with Martian Child. This movie was real, heartwarming and never hit a false note. In many ways it was the movie Dan in Real Life should have been.

As with Steve Carell in Dan, John Cusack plays a recent widower struggling to readjust. While Carell had his newspaper column, Cusack is the writer of science fiction. While both play an idealized version of the proverbial nice guy, Cusack has rough edges that make him far more human.

Struggling to do something meaningful with his life, he decides to tentatively adopt a troubled boy who believes he is from Mars. Their relationship is sweet without being cloying. Each of them stumbles and falls as they mutually learn about commitment and loss. This little movie has a gigantic heart, and deserves to be seen by a wider audience.

Not only that, but the performances are flawless. Is there an actor working today that is more taken for granted than John Cusack? Like Johnny Depp before the Pirates of the Caribbean phenomenon, he consistently turns out wonderful performances in small, quirky movies. From High Fidelity to Being John Malcovich to this year's 1408, he seldom holds anything back as he brings instant credibility to his divergent roles.

In addition, he is helped in this film once again by his warm and compellingly oddball sister, Joan Cusack. As in Grosse Point Blank, wher/e her brother plays a hit man attending his high school reunion, she again plays his sister, providing emotional support as he tries to adjust to his adoption of what may be a severely emotionally troubled youth. Or is he really an alien?

She is always utterly delightful. As was the case with her frazzled teacher in Jack Black's School of Rock (2003), she is a model of rectitude while dancing on the edge of a nervous breakdown. As an example, she lovingly refers to her own two children as "the Omen one and two!"

But this movie would have never worked without a convincing performance by Bobby Coleman as the 12-year-old child who is convinced he is from Mars. He is mysterious, convincing and at all times engaging, and only Freddie Highmore's performance in Finding Neverland equals his ability to crawl into your heart whether you want him there or not.

Several supporting roles help keep this movie emotionally on line. Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) is endearing in her small role as the head of the children's home where Coleman's martian boy is staying. Amanda Peet mercifully underplays her part as the best friend of Cusack's dead wife who is slowly romantically drawn to him. (Here is a quick quiz. Watch their toothy smile and tell me who has more teeth, Amanda Peet or Hillary Swank? I know I am being catty, but I can't help it.)

This movie, rated PG, poignantly examines a child's struggles with life, particularly when that child is considered a little bit different. It truly is life affirming without being preachy or self satisfied. If you want to leave a movie with a smile on your face and a tear in your eye, go and embrace this marvelous, tiny cinematic treat.

One final observation. If you do take your child, see if you don't find yourself quoting Winston Churchill as you walk to your car in the parking lot as you tell him or her, "I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever leave you!" See the movie and you'll understand.