SNOWMEN plays at Regal Cinema, Winter Park Village, tomorrow, Saturday 4/9, at noon, as part of the 20th annual Florida Film Festival. [details]
Billy is an ten-year old who wants to do something important with his life, so that his legacy will be more than just “that kid who had cancer”. So, with the help of his buddies Howard and Lucas, he tries to get his schoolmates to earn the Guinness World Record for the most snowmen built in one-day. That’s the fairly straightforward plot for this charming family comedy. Even though I’m a horrible cynic, I do like a good family movie, and though this one checks all the cliché boxes – broadly drawn bully, distant parental figures, very little adult supervision, etc. – I rather enjoyed it. Christian Martyn steals the show as Lucas – the wimpy kid who has all the funniest lines, especially when trying to introduce the new cool slang word for everyone to say at school. And since I’m used to Bobb’e J. Thompson cursing up a storm in ‘Role Models’, it was jarring to see him speaking in a cartoonish Jamaican accent in this film. (Bonus: his dad is played by Doug E. Doug!) As adults go, Ray Liotta has a nice turn as Billy’s gimmick-loving car-salesman dad. One word of warning: The film is rated PG, but by nature of it being about a young child with cancer, it gets pretty heavy in parts, so it may not be suitable for the very young.
By Samir Mathur
Contributing writer
Staff page | Twitter | TumblrBilly is an ten-year old who wants to do something important with his life, so that his legacy will be more than just “that kid who had cancer”. So, with the help of his buddies Howard and Lucas, he tries to get his schoolmates to earn the Guinness World Record for the most snowmen built in one-day. That’s the fairly straightforward plot for this charming family comedy. Even though I’m a horrible cynic, I do like a good family movie, and though this one checks all the cliché boxes – broadly drawn bully, distant parental figures, very little adult supervision, etc. – I rather enjoyed it. Christian Martyn steals the show as Lucas – the wimpy kid who has all the funniest lines, especially when trying to introduce the new cool slang word for everyone to say at school. And since I’m used to Bobb’e J. Thompson cursing up a storm in ‘Role Models’, it was jarring to see him speaking in a cartoonish Jamaican accent in this film. (Bonus: his dad is played by Doug E. Doug!) As adults go, Ray Liotta has a nice turn as Billy’s gimmick-loving car-salesman dad. One word of warning: The film is rated PG, but by nature of it being about a young child with cancer, it gets pretty heavy in parts, so it may not be suitable for the very young.