Remarkably unsubtle and by-the-numbers, and thanks to some curious plotting, it's also a bit shrill and unpleasant.
Loverboy (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:6
Rotten:28
Average Rating:4.1/10
Consensus: The transition from novel to film is awkwardly executed, and Sedgwick's character, despite the attempts to make her sympathetic, merely comes across as creepy and crazy.
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Emily Stoll (Kyra Sedgwick) is a brilliant, beautiful and financially secure woman who never wanted a husband or a house with a picket fence. She knew she needed just one thing to make her truly... Emily Stoll (Kyra Sedgwick) is a brilliant, beautiful and financially secure woman who never wanted a husband or a house with a picket fence. She knew she needed just one thing to make her truly happy: a child with whom she could share life's wonders. The only child of lovebirds Marty and Sybil Stoll (Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei), Emily always felt like a third wheel, a by-product of her parents' intense romance. By the time she reaches her late 20s, Emily decides to forego marriage entirely and conceive a child on her own. An anonymous sexual encounter with an amiable businessman named Paul (Campbell Scott), results in the birth of her son, whom she names Paul (Dominic Scott Kay). Emily is astonished to find that her child is even more precious to her than she had imagined. The intense intimacy of motherhood finally gives her life passion and meaning Emily and her "Loverboy" settle down in a cozy home where she introduces him to the world as she sees it: a world of imagination, humor, literature and magic, but most importantly, a world meant for just the two of them. Creative and iconoclastic, Emily has no interest in polite social interaction. She shuns neighbors, school, potential lovers – any distractions that might take her away from Paul, or Paul away from her. Her single overriding passion is to help her precocious child reach his fullest potential and to protect him from what she sees as the stifling conformity purveyed by mediocre teachers and ordinary playmates. For six years, Emily manages to fend off attempts by well-meaning outsiders to penetrate the exclusive bond she shares with Paul. But, when Paul reaches school age and his natural curiosity begins to draw him to the outside world, Emily knows she has to find a way to hold on to him. No matter what, her "Loverboy" must always remain by her side. Critically-acclaimed actor Kevin Bacon has lent his talent to some of the most memorable filmmaking spanning four decades, from "Animal House" to "Diner" to "Apollo 13" to last year's Best Picture Oscar® nominee, "Mystic River" and most recently, "The Woodsman." Now Bacon steps behind the camera for a second time (directorial debut was Showtime's "Losing Chase") to helm "Loverboy," the chilling story of a woman whose desire to right the wrongs of her own desolate childhood leads to a heart-wrenching decision. --© THINKFilm [More]
Starring: Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Marisa Tomei
Starring: Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Marisa Tomei, Oliver Platt, Campbell Scott, Melissa Errico, Sandra Bullock
Director: Kevin Bacon
Director: Kevin Bacon
Screenwriter: Victoria Redel, Hannah Shakespeare
Producer: Kevin Bacon, Daniel Bigel, Michael Mailer
Composer: Michael Bacon
Studio: ThinkFilm
Reviews for Loverboy
If the situations are intentionally unreal, Sedgwick's performance could not be more real.
Long before the 86-minute film runs its course, you'll want to bolt from your seat and call Child Protective Services.
[Bacon's] overly stylized direction is distracting at first and then quickly becomes oppressive ...
Even though Loverboy is only 86 minutes long, as it wore on, I wore out.
There is a lot of skill on display here and a great performance but I can’t recommend it either because this woman is so clearly and obviously abusive and insane.
Except for the kid, what we have are a bunch of ageing ingénues grateful for the work and doing their best.
It all adds up to an unfortunate misfire: a film at odds with both its source material and itself.
Almost everything is annotated, or explained by incessant voice-over. This is its own form of suffocation, and the ideas and themes feel like they've been mothered too much.
Emily is a complicated woman, all right, but she's a difficult person to spend an entire movie with.
First-time director Kevin Bacon (Mr. Sedgwick) cleverly maintains a balance of discomfiting and familiar by jumping nimbly around Emily's life.
The real trouble is at its core, with an over-the-top performance from Sedgwick that borders on Baby Jane campiness.
A grim little story, but it's leavened unexpectedly with humor and energy.
It makes for a deeply uncomfortable moviegoing experience -- but unfortunately not one with enough behavioral insight to justify the pain.
Freud might have found something interesting here, but for most of us it's just a crazy mom movie, whatever contrivances the filmmakers use to make it all seem more profound.
Sedgwick does her best with the material, but the script is enamored with cloying dialogue and irritating voiceover, and Bacon's direction relies on shtick and gimmicks. We got no love for Loverboy.
In this dismal drama directed by Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick plays Emily, a single mother who is fiercely overprotective of her young son.
Loverboy, the shaky second feature directed by Kevin Bacon, stars Kyra Sedgwick as a single mother whose possessive instinct runs amok.
Latest News for Loverboy
June 15, 2006:
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