Our picks for what to watch this week include a shocking true story, a second season with lots of unanswered questions, and a murderous musical episode.
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Title: Jack the Bear (1993)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Danny DeVito | ... | John Leary | |
| Robert J. Steinmiller Jr. | ... | Jack Leary | |
| Miko Hughes | ... | Dylan Leary | |
| Gary Sinise | ... | Norman Strick | |
| Art LaFleur | ... | Mr. Festinger | |
| Stefan Gierasch | ... | Father-in-Law | |
 |
Erica Yohn | ... | Mother-in-Law |
| Andrea Marcovicci | ... | Elizabeth Leary | |
| Julia Louis-Dreyfus | ... | Peggy Etinger | |
| Reese Witherspoon | ... | Karen Morris | |
| Bert Remsen | ... | Mitchell | |
| Carl Gabriel Yorke | ... | Gordon Layton | |
| Lee Garlington | ... | Mrs. Festinger | |
|
|
Lorinne Vozoff | ... | Mrs. Mitchell |
|
|
Justin Mosley Spink | ... | Dexter Mitchell |
Danny DeVito is John Leary, a professional clown, whose wife's death in a car accident has left him to care for his two young boys. Loving, but useless at the daily job of fathering, the onus falls on plucky Jack the Bear (Robert J. Steinmiller, Jr.) Leary's conscience, and a quantity of alcohol, leads him to denounce a neo-fascist candidate on his children's television program, and also to the kidnapping of youngest son Dylan (Miko Hughes) by a disturbed neo-Nazi supporter. Written by David Holmes <d.r.h@btinternet.com>
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Warning: Contains some spoilers
Although essentially a "coming of age" drama, few coming of age films show the degree of anger experienced by the title character of this movie. Jack is an adolescent who, as the movie opens, has just moved to a new neighborhood after the death of his mother. During the next few months, he faces some harsh life realities, such as a new school, his decaying opinion of his father, the abduction of his little brother and his fear of a dangerous neighbor. Most of all he faces the loss of his mother and deals with it the only way he can: by crying. None of these themes are new in a coming of age movie, but the emotions Jack goes through seem multiplied by 100 when compared to similar films. When he feels guilt, I was shocked by its intensity. And when he feels angry, I felt uneasy at the degree of rage shown by a basically mild mannered pre-teen.
The film is also not afraid to show its characters acting unpredictably. I came to care about them and was sometimes shocked by their behavior. But although disturbing, it was always realistic. All in all, I thought the film offered a bold example of how a family copes with big problems. I'd say that it's too intense for small children, but unfortunately adults may be put off by the story-line and the age of the main character. However, I'd recommend it to teens and adults who might have forgotten how rough adolescence can be.