6/17/09

Imagine That

Hmmm... Evidently the last week of the school year includes a class trip to a multiplex. I have seen a surprising number of school children accompanied by authorized adults this past two weeks. One group attended "Imagine That" the same evening I screened it. This review will acknowledge THEIR response, as opposed to mine.

Wildly inconsistent Eddie Murphy (his work ranges from "Shrek" to "Norbit") is a successful financial executive who is confident that a big promotion is in the works. Instead he is confronted by a competing financial executive whose bizarre predictions threaten to derail our hero's career. This opponent, who goes by the name of "Whitefeather," is a pseudo Native American who uses bogus doubletalk to forecast financial trends. The governing board is impressed by this unique approach and Murphy is frantic. Whitefeather is played to perfection by the wonderful Thomas Haden Church ("Sideways" and "Smart People").

The upshot is, our neglectful father/financial executive is forced to listen to his nine-year-old daughter as she summons imaginary friends who come to his aid in this struggle to salvage his career. The school children in the audience audibly reveled in watching Murphy as he is forced to repeat his daughter's rituals in order to invoke these friends. Of course, this results in a new, tight bond between father and daughter, which was the point from the beginning. Murphy is fearless as his character suffers one humiliation after another.

The children loved it...