Little Man Tate

Starring:John Bell (IV), Harry Connick Jr., Ishe Costa, Richard Fredette, Adam Hann-Byrd, Richard Hanson, David Hyde Pierce, Alex Lee, Nathan Lee, Mark Lienhart, Debi Mazar, Chucky Ocampo, P.J. Ochlan, George Plimpton, Michael Shulman, Jennifer Trier, Danitra Vance, Celia Weston, Dianne Wiest
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Jodie Foster and Dianne Wiest star in Foster's engaging directorial debut. Single mom Dede Tate is doing her best to raise her brilliant-but-lonely son Fred on a waitress's salary. Jane Grierson (Wiest), something of an expert on being brilliant but lonely, spots Fred's genius and wants to enroll him in her school for the gifted. It's a simple story, but it is very well told. Foster and Wiest both give excellent, sensitive performances, conveying the selfishness in each character's desire to have Fred to herself as well as the pain in not being able to fulfill all his needs on her own. Adam Hann-Byrd gives a remarkable performance as Fred, showing his intelligence without getting precious about it. Foster already shows a steady directing hand, but the best moments are the more whimsical ones in which she reveals the quiet exhilaration of Fred's mental leaps, as when a pool game suddenly becomes a beautiful collision of lines and forces. The DVD version shows the film in its original widescreen format and includes commentary from Foster. --Ali Davis

Customer Reviews:

Little Man Tate.......2007-05-12

Little Man Tate is an excellent movie with first class acting and direction (Jodie Foster, Dir.). This is a movie the entire family can enjoy. It will expand your awareness of people around you, and stimulate discussion and appreciation of the gifts each person has, even if there are no geniuses in your family. It is a thoroughly engaging, heart-tugging, and often very funny movie.

Wonderfull.......2007-01-12

I just love this movie. After showing her skills in acting, Jodie Foster, steps forward to prove that her skills on directing are not less impressive.
I do recomend this movie, great acting, very moving, show it to your children.

A Good Story About A Gifted Child.......2006-09-22

Jodie Foster not only acts in this film, she directs as well. Harry Connick Jr. also stars in this movie, along with Adam Hann-Byrd who plays Fred Tate, the main character. Let us not forget who discovers Fred, Jane Grierson played by Dianne Wiest. His mother loves him, but Jane sees his potential and requests that Fred join her program. He fits in better with the gifted children, and is happier with the new setup than he was before. There are some special effects in this movie, to show you how Fred's genius mind works. All in all, a very good story.

Not that good........2006-01-12

Any director worth his or her " salt " would have taken advantage of all the missed opportunities in this movie. First, the characters are merely two dimensional and portray little to no genuine human emotion. The character developments in this film are really poor. Things just move too fast in this movie and from the beginning to end it feels lost amid a sea of turmoil with no light-house close by. I wish more would have been acknowledged about the " mentors " lonliness and her coming to grips with her inner pain, of which we see little of. Also the mother, Jodie Foster, seems to be acting by " numbers ". This was one of her worst roles both in acting and script. There wasn't enough dynamics in the movie. Really a sloppy movie.

I liked it up to a point.......2006-01-07

My wife and I felt the same about this film - it was good up to a point. The main weakness of the film is that the characters are 2-dimensional, and without giving away any plot details, we found itdefinitely too "feel good." At the end of the film, we agreed: "only 2 stars for this one." Rent it before you buy it. (We saw it on TV, luckily.)