Oedipal complexes are usually the subject of dark and disturbing works that chronicle dysfunctional relationships between mothers and sons.
"Psycho" and "The Manchurian Candidate" were two such films, traversing the twisted territory of incest and exploring the depths of perversity.
Who doesn't shutter whenever Norman Bates mutters the word mother or when Raymond Shaw becomes a pawn in his mother's sadistic game of political manipulation?
"Tadpole" does not approach the Oedipal complex from this standard angle, but instead follows the route of "The Graduate" and explores its comedic possibilities.
Oscar "Tadpole" Grubman (Aaron Stanford) is a 15-year-old student who loves Voltaire, speaks fluent French and considers girls his own age beneath him.
Upon returning home from school for Thanksgiving break, he plans to reveal his feelings to the object of his affections, his stepmother (Sigourney Weaver).
Now this plot easily could have been mishandled and allowed to slip into the realm of the disturbing, converting Grubman from Benjamin Braddock into a Hitchcock-esque paragon of psychosis.
But "Tadpole" deftly handles these problematic possibilities and manages to maintain our sympathy with the hapless protagonist.
It is revealed that Grubman's real mother is French and that his father (John Ritter) is caring, but out of touch with his son's emotions.
Grubman is thus searching for emotional validation, and he finds solace in attempting to please his stepmother. She has praised him for his precocious intellect and it is evident that he constantly tries to maintain the veneer of a sophisticated intellectual.
It is also revealing that he has focused on learning French and reads Voltaire, a sign of how much he misses his own mother. Unfortunately for Grubman, he still is only an inexperienced and hormonally agitated teenager underneath this facade.
Newcomer Stanford is given the responsibility of conveying these contradictions within Tadpole, and he does so with a grace, subtlety and comic timing beyond the reach of most other young Hollywood actors.
Although obviously all of his 25 years, he pulls off the feat of accurately portraying all the emotional angst and turmoil of a 15-year-old without difficulty, and his actual age becomes less distracting as the film progresses.
He makes Tadpole sympathetic when his precocity and intellectual pretentiousness might otherwise have been annoying and alienating. This humanizing effect prevents the viewer from becoming utterly disgusted with his bizarre infatuation, and makes it possible to laugh at his plight.
The other actors also contribute vastly to the enjoyment of this film. John Ritter has lost none of the comedic panache from his days on "Three's Company," and executes one of the most hilarious choke takes ever to grace the screen. He also capably handles the dramatic side of the equation much as he previously did in "Sling Blade."
Bebe Neuwirth effortlessly steals every scene that she is in as the sexy best friend of Grubman's stepmother. A complication arises between Grubman and her character that definitely proves amusing, even if the word statutory can be invoked.
Weaver, as Grubman's stepmother Eve, finally plays her own age for once and manages to create a palpable tension between her character and Stanford's.
That being said, not everything in this film is satisfactory. To quote Tadpole's friend Charlie, "You always have to find something wrong." AlthoughWeaver handles her role well, it feels like her character is underwritten.
Once Grubman reveals his feelings to her, there is a short but powerful scene between them and that is it. The film then quickly moves to the resolution and everything is wrapped up a bit too tidily. The emotional repercussions of such a revelation and Eve's reaction are not fully explored, leaving the viewer slightly disappointed in the end.
Despite this, "Tadpole" remains a mostly pleasurable experience. The script is witty and smartly written, albeit the forced ending, and the actors all handle themselves swimmingly. Certainly the film can be forgiven for its errors -- it was shot on location in New York with digital film on a shoestring budget of $150,000 and still manages, despite its flaws, to be more entertaining than all the asinine and adolescent dross that passes for comedy these days.
"Tadpole" also manages to sympathetically tell the story of a character who would not necessarily evoke compassion in real life. Stories about young men who desire an incestuous relationship with their stepmother might not seem appealing, but "Tadpole" overcomes this problem with ease.
Even if the cinematic world is full of disturbed mother-lovers such as Norman Bates and Raymond Shaw, "Tadpole" proves that they need not be horrifying to be entertaining. Oedipal complexes can be funny too.
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