StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

ElMaruecan82 "Little Man Tate" is a heartwarming, at times poignant, story of a precocious and highly intelligent little boy named Fred Tate (Adam Hynn Bird) incapable to develop sane relationships with his entourage, especially kids his age. His best friend is his mother, a twenty-something free-spirited single woman named Dede and played by a young Jodie Foster, he calls her by her name as if that complicity was a way to make up for the lack of real buddies. One of the most eloquent scenes shows a room full of birthday decorations, balloons, cake and candies, but lacking the essential: kids.This might sound like usual material; after all, gifted kids have always been lacking social skills despite their efforts. In a way, maybe these very efforts are the indicators that they have something to compensate, a sort of invisible burden but of socially handicapping effect. Still, the film obviously tries to get beyond these clichés by establishing the real trait of Fred; he's a smart boy with an incredible intuitive quality, so he can make his own diagnosis. His capability to 'understand' even the most obscure and hidden meanings maybe surpasses his ability to juggle with cubic roots and logarithms, so the paradox is that he can tell you what is wrong with him. But like in a math riddle, just because you can tell what the problem is doesn't mean you've got what it takes to solve it.Fred tries his best to have ersatz of contacts with the other kids. The problem is that he's like a collateral victim of his intelligence, he's highly anxious over the future of the world, developing an ulcer from the anxiety, and yet he needs to be constantly challenged, to satisfy the particularities of his gift. Fred needs challenges he obviously can't find in the very world he wants to fit in, and he needs the real world to fulfill a few dreams, there's a sort of complex situation that an outsider will try to solve. The third player is Jane, played by Dianne Wiest, a former gifted child who helps them to find a path through painting, artistic creations, and travels to Orlando, contests and interview. As they say "travels broaden the mind" and that's what she tries to do.There is not much of a plot except a fascinating coming-of-age story revolving around the 'love' triangle between Jane who's obviously fascinated by Fred and is convinced she can help him to find his way and Dede who can't stand the way he's treated like some sort of a circus freak. It's like "Good Will Hunting" with Wiest in the Skarsgard and Foster in the Williams' roles, but with maternal love at stakes. Dede even threatens Jane to kill her if anything wrong happens, and killing isn't a manner of speaking. But it seems like Fred is interested in these experiments, and during his journey, he comes across many interesting encounters, an obnoxious mathemagician kid wearing a black cape and a young adult student who teaches him billiards. But these relationships never last and tend to project the same reality to Fred: he needs a real mother and real friends.Jane doesn't even seem capable to play a mother role, as she was too focused on the intelligence of her children she couldn't reach the intelligence of the heart, and Dede can't reach her son's mind. The story progresses nonetheless through a fascinating path where Fred's insecurities and weaknesses, rather understandable for a child, highlight the more unstable emotions of adults and inevitably lead to a moment of rebellion where Fred is obviously tired of being an object of fascination and prefers to be a subject. Jodie Foster was an appropriate director for she was a gifted child and maybe the character of little Fred was a way to let some repressed feelings steam off and reveal the curse of being below the others.This is a 'little film' by the usual standards, in 1991, Jodie Foster would be more noted for her performance as Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs" but the acting and yes, the directing, provide very interesting characters, so deep and real we actually care for them and wish they can find the strength to overcome these kind of puzzling dilemmas where everyone is both right and wrong. I only wish the resolution was handled in a better way, it seems that the film didn't care for a climax and things seemed to have been fixed by themselves as we couldn't tell what happened between the TV incident and the birthday party that concluded the film.There must have been some off-screen reconciliation or deep discussions but we never get to know them, maybe it was a deliberate choice, an artistic license from Foster, telling us to give this little kid a break and accept that he could finally be a happy little boy. I guess I longed for more complexity but despite that little faux-pas, this is a movie that I enjoyed as a kid, and realized that it still held up very well with my adult mind.

wjuneboone As a city bus driver for Queen City Metro back in 1991 I was one of two queen city bus drivers who would drive the bus into fountain square where the young actor was waiting for the bus. I remember that day /later in after noon Jodie Foster was directing ,but you would have never known her as she was dressed kinda in disguise I was proud to be ask by Queen City Metro Supervisors if I wanted to participate in this movie called 'Little Man Tate"I thought the movie was made very good and Jodie Foster's direction was great While I've never seen the whole Movie I may go out and get it and watch it all the way throughYou don't know how much hard work these actors and directors do until your up close to watch them workThank you for stopping by to read meDaniel Freeman Cincinnati OHio

Elswet This work presents the challenges of raising a gifted child. It is never a easy as it seems, raising a child who is more intellectual than you are - a fact wrenchingly portrayed herein. The emotional needs of these children often go unattended, as the parents usually struggle to satisfy the intellectual needs.Jodie Foster gives a fantastic performance as a mom under the aforementioned circumstances.Many may consider the ending weak, if they are unable to demonstrate the ability to see beyond the story itself. If you can, then this work is well done and offers hope in the end.I found it a bit better than mildly entertaining, but it's not something I will want to watch again.It rates a 6.7/10 from...the Fiend :.

Honeyshine I just wanted to put in my 2 cents and praise this movie because I felt that there were so many negative comments for such an uplifting and heartwarming film. I tip my hat to Jodie Foster for acting so fluidly all the while debuting as a director too. Sure, it was a simple movie, but I think that that was her point; simple, to the point and most importantly, you were supposed to feel good after having seen the movie. My favorite scene was when Fred and Eddie (Harry Connick Jr) befriend each other and they're playing piano. The tap-to jazz music in the movie is great and keeps the movie going at that jazz pace. I think it's a wonderful flick and makes a great watch with the girlfriend film.