Martian Child

Perhaps due to a long list of roles in sub-par romantic comedies, John Cusack has never received the respect that films like Bullets over Broadway and High Fidelity should have given him. Yet Cusack's serious side is on full display this year with the forthcoming Grace is Gone and the now-playing Martian Child.

Martian Child, in which Cusack plays David, a popular science-fiction writer who lives alone after the death of his wife, is much better than the considerable negative buzz surrounding it would suggest. Having discussed the idea with his sister Liz (real life sister Joan Cusack), David decides to adopt an unusual boy named Dennis (Bobby Coleman) who believes he's a martian and stays under a cardboard box to keep clear of the sun. Much of the film focuses on the struggles David encounters as a father, in particular a father whose child collects bugs, eats only Lucky Charms and lacks any semblance of social skills.

Cusack succeeds in making us care about his character and whether the orphanage board will allow him to remain Dennis's father. We can admire how excited David gets when Dennis first arrives at his house. We can sympathize with how he struggles to get Dennis to like him while at the same time trying to be a responsible parental figure. Yes, Martian Child can at times be overtly corny, with David delivering lines to his son like "I deserve you," at a baseball game. And yes, the film does at times beam out its "Be Yourself" message with painstakingly little subtlety, such as when the president of David's book publishing company asks him, "Why can't you just be what we want you to be?"

But it would be hard not to feel some sympathy towards David's character who, having felt alone and rejected as a child, tries desperately to connect with one of the few people he is close with: his child. If you can look past an ending that runs on too long and cheesy lines that almost run the film into the ground, Martian Child has a good heart and characters you can root for.