Little Man Tate (1991) User Reviews

Very touching

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 7/10 · 20 January 2004]

Little Man Tate was one of my favorite movies as a child, I don't know why, but maybe because my grandmother and I bonded over this movie, it's just special to me. But I was a little disappointed to see a low rating on IMDb, I think this is an absolute treasure of a film. Jodie and Dianne are just such a terrific pair of actresses and are perfect casting for the film. I know Jodie Foster was in charge of the film and she did a terrific job. The boy who played Fred was so charming and fit the role perfectly. The story is so touching and beautiful, not to mention original since the story of gifted children isn't really discussed that well.

Fred is a young boy who is extremely gifted, his intelligence is something very special. But his mom, DeeDee, doesn't really let him expand since she is a single mom wanting her son just to be normal. But Fred is discovered by Jane Grierson, a professor of highly intelligent and gifted children, giving Fred the chance to expand his world and even takes him to college at a young age. Fred meets interesting characters throughout his journey learning that maybe life has more to offer than what he used too.

Little Man Tate is a very good movie and very charming. I know some might find it a little boring, but honestly, you have got to give this movie a chance, it has great drama and some fun comedy along the way. David Hyde Pierce was such a fun addition to the cast, he really makes his screen presence enjoyable, so does Dianne. But the whole cast is just perfect and seemed to enjoy doing this movie together. I would highly recommend this movie, it's a good one to watch.

7/10

Engaging insight into the world of exceptionally gifted children

[cosmic_quest · 8/10 · 6 May 2006]

Through the eyes of a exceptionally gifted child of seven, 'Little Man Tate' delivers a riveting insight of the loneliness, maturity, isolation and brilliance of what it is to be highly prodigious yet very young and how imperative it is to achieve a balance when educating and raising such children.

Fred (Adam Hann-Byrd) is a very special little boy. He is able to play complicated musical pieces, pen deep and meaningful poems, calculate complex mathematical problems at an age when his classmates are still learning to tie their shoes and mastering their alphabet. He's a child old before his time, capable of thoughts far beyond the average adult's understanding, but at the core of it all, he is still just a seven-year-old who wants to fit in at school and have friends. His mother Dede, played by Jodie Foster, determines the best way to raise her beloved son is to treat him like any other child to the extent that she never really acknowledges his gifts, whereas Jane Grierson (Dianne Wiest) is on the other end of the scale as a psychologist whose speciality is gifted children. Jane takes an interest in Fred, believing his intelligence must be nurtured even if it means plonking a tot of seven into a university full of young adults.

Jodie Foster and Dianne Wiest deliver strong, solid performances as two women who both love this child and just want what is best for him, even if their approaches are very different. However, it is Adam Hann-Byrd who steals the show as the lead character of Fred. He depicts the brilliance of the character as well as his awkwardness in dealing with both 'normal' contemporaries and fellow gifted children. He is wonderful in showing how Fred is just a kid who wants to be liked, and how he desperately needs the adults around him to provide him a balance between being treated like the seven-year-old he is while allowing his towering intellect to thrive.

This film takes us into the heart of what it is to be a child prodigy and how it can be both a gift and a curse. We see Fred surpassing his adult classmates in his university course yet he struggles to interact with peers his own age who are of average intelligence. Through him, it is easy to see that being perceived as 'normal' can be the greatest gift of all. It also highlights the abysmal state of the state education system in teaching such children.

I really recommend this film as it delivers this fascinating story in a manner that is bittersweet, touching and, at times, humorous. The characters are all interesting and likable and you can't help but feel for Fred's joys and woes.

Through the Eyes of a Child...

[bobjaxon · 8/10 · 31 December 2004]

I've long been a fan of Jodie Foster's acting, and upon my first viewing of "Little Man Tate", I can now say I'm a fan of her directorial talents as well.

The story is of Fred Tate, son of single mother Dede. It's found that, at the age of 2, Fred can already read the print on the bottom of a dinner plate. Dede, and the rest of the world, realize that Fred is a genius, but Dede is determined that Fred, while given ever opportunity to expand his gift, is not exploited by the well meaning, but pretentious head mistress of a school for gifted children, Jane Grierson, portrayed by the outstanding actress Dianne Wiest.

The story's told, mainly, through the eyes of Fred; however, we also see the viewpoints of Dede & Jane who each feel that she alone has Fred's best interests at heart. We are given tremendous insight into how Fred sees and relates to the world around him. He has the understanding that's beyond most adults but only the emotional experience of his 7 years of life.

Through Fred, we can see that the academic world of gifted children isn't just filled with the nice, polite, precocious, bespectacled children that we are often shown on news magazines or public television programs. We are allowed to see that some are as outright rude and pretentious as the adults who claim to be only nurturing their gifts.

In her feature-film directorial debut, Foster is able to capture the world as Fred sees it. She's able still allow us to see Fred as the youngster he is. Fred's intellect isn't the basis of the story, just one element in it. She lets the story do the work, and she let's the character's tell the tale. She allows the characters to be real people not just the stereotypes that so often are found in films dealing with this subject matter.

Jodie Foster's only directed two films since this one ("Home For The Holidays"-1995 & "Flora Plum"-2005), and I've seen "Home For The Holidays" which I also feel was very well done. It seems that Ms. Foster is being very careful in picking her projects, much like the late Stanley Kubrick did. I only hope her unique talents are recognized and she's given more green lights for future projects.

Excellent Acting. Simplistic Conclusion.

[Lee-107 · 9 April 2002]

I was mainly interested in this film because of the subject - the predicament of a child genius. Half way through it I was captivated, not so much by the subject(in part because of the way it was handled), but by the child genius himself. Adam Hann-Byrd is thoroughly captivating. Rendering a sympathetic performance, he's almost bewitching! He even looks a lot like Jodie Foster. And it's to her credit as a director for finding such a perfect little actor to play such a complex role. Jodie Foster herself gives a moving performance as a struggling mother who is suddenly made to feel incapacitated, both financially and mentally, as the mother of a child prodigy. Diane Wiest's choice of characters has always been interesting. From 'Edward Scissorhands' to 'Birdcage', 'Practical magic' and still other films, she's usually played characters who are slightly quirky, odd or non-conformist, with a touch of humor in them. Over here she plays to perfection the role of the demanding, independent mentor of Fred Tate with a warped emotional intelligence.

One grouse though...as far Diane Wiest's character is concerned. I think her role is too much of an extreme as compared to Jodie Foster's. At the end of the film, Wiest's character, Jane Grierson ends up looking sheepish, repenting and even stupid to an extent. The end is almost sort of an ode to perfect motherhood, decrying the failure of the poor mentor spending tons of money by taking prodigies under her wing. It seems to say, child prodigies don't need all that specialized atmosphere, don't need special benefits, when in fact they do. I'm not saying that they ought to be living in state-of-the-art cages where they will only interact with other prodigies. But they do need a lot of other benefits that ordinary schools which underestimate the intelligence of even "normal" people just cannot provide. Child geniuses need to be dealt with very sensitively, keeping in mind their advanced faculties all the time and an atmosphere has to be created for them to properly nurture their special gifts. Somehow this film, by showing Jane Grierson as obviously insensitive, indirectly puts forth a bad case for special training for child geniuses. The real test of motherhood and Dede's feelings of jealousy towards Jane would have been explored if Jane, along with her maternal feelings for Fred would have also been shown to be sensitive or considerate. Instead we are made to laugh at Jane because she offers Fred some brown fruit/veggie juice and he asks for Coke... So that's it. This film is good, not for the content or it's resolution, but for the acting. Kudos to Adam Hann-Byrd!

Little man, big world...

[Lejink · 6/10 · 12 June 2010]

I had to smile at the legend before the end titles - "A Jodie Foster Film" - one movie and she's an auteur! Nevertheless, this is an accomplished well acted, "little" film looking at the gift-cum-curse of being a gifted child in a largely misunderstanding world.

To be fair, the movie looks little more than a better-than-average TV movie, but is elevated by its director's star turn in front of the cameras, plus some neat little (that word again!) directorial flourishes, like a slow cutaway into the distance of Foster's workaday waitress Dee Tate's mother/son dance with young son Fred and at other points interesting suffusions of light and animation to perhaps demonstrate the surging thought process of the precocious infant.

The narrative gets a little skewered as Fred is adopted by a wealthy philanthropist female, childless naturally, whose feelings quickly move from professorial to matrimonial and a too obvious conflict with Foster's more down-home mother love. Some of the situations are a little too pat also, for instance the way that Fred cleaves to older boys, one a maths prodigy himself, the other a piano-playing college boy (played by a young Harry Connick Junior), the lad obviously groping emotionally for a male bonding relationship with his natural father nowhere around.

Freak occurrences too like Connick's initial encounter with Fred (symbolically dropping the whole world on his shoulders!) and a side-lined Foster's rescue of a drowning child just as Fred's making an appearance at the professor's side on national TV also jar credulity a little and of course sentimentality rears its largely unwelcome head before the happy ending, but I'm perhaps being too severe on what is when all is said and done, a warm, family entertainment on an off-beat subject.

Realistic

[FiendishDramaturgy · 7/10 · 21 April 2007]

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 :.

A Glimpse Into The World Of Raising A 'Genius'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 19 July 2006]

This story is a realistic account (I admit, I am assuming) of what it must be like to be a child genius, not fitting in with kids your own age nor with older kids. It must really be difficult for all involved.

Adam Hanna-Byrd, as "Fred," is the star of the show and plays that young kid. Jodie Foster plays his mother. The kid's a neat little guy and the main adult characters, played by Foster and Dianne Wiest, are interesting, too. The latter plays the head mistress of a school for gifted children. She and Foster clash a lot about how to bring up the child.

The only thing that marred this film was the language. There is too much profanity (six usages of the Lord's name in vain, for example) for a "family film" like this. There is no reason for all of it in a thoughtful, kid-themed movie. Anyway, it's still worth a look.

It's nice to see Hanna-Byrd, in real life, is living much more of a normal existence, having gone to college and graduating in 2004

A good film that could have been great, had it not been pushed to be mainstream

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 13 October 2004]

Before I go on with this review, let me share exactly why a film like this means so much to me, and why I can relate so much to it. The film is about a boy genius, a young man with exceptional intelligence and skills. I don't think it's ever clearly stated in the film, but his personality and his intelligence points to him being an autist. Now, suffering(what a misdirecting word... like it's a disease or something) from a mild case of autism myself, being diagnosed with asperger syndrome, I can relate to the kid on a very personal level. However, the film has been pushed into being a mainstream drama, instead of being, shall we say a good one(or, at least an accurate one). The personality of the kid is accurate, but not all of his symptoms are. I actually saw a TV special, which involved a real person, a teenager, diagnosed with asperger syndrome. During the ten minutes that the special lasted, I learned more about being an asperger, recognized more of my own personality traits, and realized more about myself and being an asperger than I did through the 90 minutes of this film. It holds a lot of truth, but too much of it is watered down and forced into being mainstream, in which everything has to end fine and dandy, and in which everything has to make perfect sense. Maybe the film should have been longer; maybe it should just have been less mainstream, and more deep. I don't know. The film just lacks something. Everything in the film just immediately evokes some outbursts of "Aww" "Ohh", and doesn't really spark any further thought in the subject. I suspect that, was such a statistic made, most people who saw this film would prove to have done no further research or give no further thought into the subject of autism. And that's just the problem with the film. It evokes the emotions that it's supposed to, but that's it. Afterwords, everyone forgets about it, and gives it no further thought. Just like the audiences of mainstream dramas want; an hour and a half of emotions and drama, and then to return to their normal, everyday lives, with no new experiences or even the notion of thinking about autism, or any other non-commercial subject. However, apart from that, the film is well done. The plot is good. The pacing is good enough. The acting is very good; the three leads, Foster, Wiest and Hann-Byrd(the child actor) all do their jobs well, all give good performances. The child actor was a pleasant surprise, and truly delivered a believable performance. The characters are well-written and credible. I like that there is no definite "bad guy"; both Foster and Wiest mistreat the child, and mistake what he wants with what they want themselves. The graphics that are done to show when the kid concentrates on something or figures something out in a particular way are good, well done, and give a pretty good image of what it's like to be gifted and figuring something out much faster than a "normal" person could. Of course they're oversimplified, but what would you expect from a mainstream film? I suspect an independent film dealing with the subject would have been much better. All in all, if you're interested in the subject, it's decent, but I would recommend looking up the real information about it instead. If you have no knowledge of the subject, you can watch the film; just don't expect everything in it to be true. If you don't care about the subject, you can just watch it as you would any other mainstream drama. I recommend it to fans of dramas, but I warn anyone who knows a lot on the subject to approach with caution and take the film lightly. 7/10

an amazing perspective

[khader44 · 9/10 · 10 January 2006]

This movie is obviously what one would call "labour of love". It's a pleasure to watch. The story shows beautifully what a thousand articles on math prodigies cannot- that even geniuses need love and that no matter how "genius" that child is he is still only a kid.

She brings out the subtleties of her character. Fred seems adult-like in a child's world and yet deals with child-like simplicity in an adult's world. Jane is the headmistress of a school for the gifted, who believes that her theories on child-prodigies can bring out Fred's best talents, but forgets that Fred's best is not in his head but in his heart. Working to give her child the best yet fierce-fully protective of Fred is his mother Dede. This movie perfectly capture the heartbreaking events that can happen when a child is given too much attention but no affection. Hats off to Adam Byrd who gives a very nuanced performance. Both Jodie Foster and Nancy show the little personality clashes very well. Jodie foster has done a great job when she shows Dede's reaction and then later Jane's reaction to the fact that Fred has had a nightmare.I hope to be able to see more movies from her.

A great Jodie Foster flick

[Analog_Devotee · 6/10 · 21 January 2021]

I was hoping for a little more on the "troubled, somewhat misunderstood genius kid" story. That being said, this is still a very enjoyable flick. And, as always, Jodie Foster knocks her role out of the park. Other characters felt like they needed touching up, either in the acting or writing department. Maybe both.

Certainly worth your time if you're a fan of Jodie Foster, but don't expect to be blown away.

Ultimately dissatisfying

[Lel · 5/10 · 3 November 1999]

Explores the difficulties faced by a 7 year old genius, and his relationship on the one hand with his mother, who provides love but no intellectual stimulus, and his teacher, who provides lessons in abundance but without emotional support. A bit laboured and contrived, both mother and teacher come across as caricatures. It highlights some potentially interesting issues, which are skimmed over in the ending, which is as trite as they come. The little kid is good, though.

If you don't love Fred, there's something wrong with you!

[xavrush89 · 9/10 · 14 January 2004]

A great directorial debut by Jodie Foster, not overly ambitious, but wholly effective. She plays a mother who wants her genius son to have an ordinary life, once his intelligence is discovered, yet in his "normal life," he's a total misfit. The way Foster brings these fragile little egos together is intriguing. The film is also a showcase for Wiest's quirky charms, she adds much humanity to a character who on the surface is unlikable, although it is Foster who gives the more subtle performance. (I disagree with one reviewer at the time who suggested they should have switched roles, it's more interesting seeing them each cast against type.) There are brief but nice supporting turns from Celia Weston and the late Danitra Vance. But it is Adam Hann-Byrd who makes the movie a total pleasure. If The Sixth Sense were made during this time (1991), he would have been the only choice for Haley Joel Osment's role. Never precocious, never going out of his way to pull at heartstrings, he could give several grown-up actors lessons in how to give a nuanced performance. A thoroughly enjoyable film.

good debut for Foster

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 24 June 2015]

Dede Tate (Jodie Foster) is an unconventional single mom to awkward and brilliant nice kid Fred. She's a waitress with her friend Gina (Debi Mazar). Jane Grierson (Dianne Wiest) wants him in her genius program assisted by Garth (David Hyde Pierce). Dede wants a normal childhood for him. When nobody shows up for his birthday, Dede reluctantly allows Fred to go with Jane where Damon is the alpha student. Dede and Jane struggle to be Fred's caregiver. Jane takes him to college where he befriends Eddie (Harry Connick Jr.) after getting hit with a globe.

It's a fine family drama most notable for being Jodie Foster's directorial debut in a full length movie. The kid has the gawky nerd look. Foster and Wiest are terrific. I wish they had more scenes together. Their relationships with the kid are the most interesting. In general, I would like the characters have more interactions together. I would like characters like Damon to stay in the picture. I wish there was a destination for the kid to aim for. It's an interesting coming-of-age movie with some underdeveloped relationships.

A nice little film, but under-developed

[Hello!!! · 5/10 · 4 November 1999]

This is a very nice small film. It is about a working class mother who's seven year old son is a child genius. It deals with a struggle between someone who wants to develop the child's interlect and the mother, who only wants him to be a child and enjoy his formative years.

This film could have been a lot better. The idea is a good one. However the actors just don't seem to get into their characters and so they don't come alive. As the story progresses you feel indifferent to the child and his heavy burden. Some realistic emotion would have made this film - but its absence killed it.

Secret Life of the Brain

[Angry_Arguer · 21 August 2003]

Little Man Tate has it's moments. Fortunately, it doesn't run into the problems of other kid-oriented movies by falling into stereotype. If it did, Fred would have glasses and acne problems like every other geek. I am happy that they found a decent child actor to carry the weight of the production (much like Empire of the Sun). There just isn't that much to say about this movie other than that it appeals only to a selective few.

I will be honest, this could have been better and deeper, but Jodie Foster didn't want it to and so she winds up being the Virgin Mary in this movie. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense here, but if you see it you'll understand. Perhaps she is becoming an egotist. Still, between Revenge of the Nerds and this, I'll take this.

Overall, not necessary viewing, but you could do worse. 3 out of 5 stars.

The burdens of genius

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 31 March 2020]

Fred Tate (Adam Hann-Byrd) was a boy genius. For most parents that would be a blessing, but for Dede Tate (Jodie Foster), it was probably more of a burden. Dede was a waitress and clearly not highly educated-- in fact it seemed that Jodie Foster simply reprised her role from the movie "The Accused." Fred Tate also seem to be burdened with his genius.

Fred Tate seem to be perpetually lost. There did not seem to be a clique, a group, or a place for him--a highly advanced seven-year-old. "Little Man Tate" was mostly about finding that place for this gifted child. He thought he found a place with Jane Grierson (Dianne Wiest) and her school for the gifted, but even that wound up being a bust.

By the end of the movie Fred Tate claimed that he had found happiness, but had he? Yes, he was having his eighth birthday party that was full of guests and they were all having fun, but that was just an event. I get that that event was supposed to be symbolic and analogous to his life at that point--meaning that he now had friends and something of a normal life that he was pleased with, but the preponderance of the movie before that all indicated that he was never going to be quite satisfied. Whenever he'd found happiness it never lasted. I could see Fred Tate in 10 or 15 years being Will Hunting, a genius janitor that is still not quite living up to his potential nor is he quite happy with his life.

So, for the time being Fred Tate is happy, which makes his birthday party the perfect point to end a movie on a happy note. Whether or not that happiness will last is anyone's guess.

Held My Attention

[blissey_s · 6/10 · 23 February 2024]

It's a cute little film that held my attention but I can't say that it really affected me on a deep level. The found Jane to be a rather morbid character that seems a little too stuffy and uptight to be enjoyable to watch. The child is cute and the relationship he shares with his caretaker (mom?) is comforting. The scenes have enough going on to be visually interesting even if the story felt like it was plodding along at points, and there are enough characters with some amount of pizazz (Harry Connick Junior, Jodie Foster) to make for a compelling watch. It's just that there weren't enough "big" moments that shocked or even ones that jilted me, and I think that is this film's biggest crime. It's certainly sweet, endearing, homey, sentimental, but it's also a little stagnant at points and that keeps it from earning a higher score.

A simple 'genius' movie.

[OllieSuave-007 · 7/10 · 13 February 2015]

I don't remember much from this movie as I saw it once when I was a little kid with my dad. I did remember that it is about a gifted seven year-old named Fred, whose mother (played by Jodie Foster) tries to bring him up in the real world.

As a kid genius, he sees his abilities are more advanced than normal than people in his age group; I thought the scene where a few adults looking over Fred's shoulder at his test during class was pretty funny. This gives the story a little intrigue as you see how he grows up in the real world and how his single mother tries to overcome the odds to raise him.

It's not an incredibly fast-paced film but it's a simple and touching story that is fine for the entire family.

Grade B-

TV show parody --- blink and you'll miss it

[ovcharenko · 7/10 · 19 December 2015]

Did anybody else notice the "Firing Line" parody? William F. Buckley is brilliantly imitated by George Plimpton (apparently they were friends), who plays "Winston F. Buckner" and his TV show "Live Wire" --- a welcome bit of fun in an otherwise fairly grim movie. I also very much liked the character of Eddie, played by Harry Connick, Jr. Of all the characters, including both Dede and Jane, he did the best job of relating to the boy at exactly the right level of understanding and experience, also not afraid to be always truthful with him --- including when it came to telling Fred that he was incapable of being the (father) figure he needed and deserved.

I was at the filming in Cincinnati

[bjhissong · 10/10 · 25 July 2005]

I LOVE this movie!!! In fact, it is my favorite. I was a senior at the University of Cincinnati at the time it was filmed and my best friend is in two scenes. The college scenes were filmed primarily at the University of Cincinnati, in Cincinnati, Ohio at McMicken Hall and outside the campus. The scene with Harry Connick Jr. at his apartment is in a dilapidated apartment building on Ludlow Ave. The scenes of Odyssey of the Mind were filmed at the Wexner Center of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. During filming Jodie Foster kept a low profile, as she also directed. This story is truly timeless...gifted education is still in the formative stages today. The movie shows that a careful balance between the nurture of the parent and the wisdom of the educator can give children an environment to reach their potential in a healthy way. Jodie Foster is wonderful as the loving but uneducated mother and Harry Connick Jr. has his first screen role in a major motion picture!

Damon's Folly

[tedew · 7/10 · 5 November 2022]

I don't mind this Jodie Foster (who I like a lot) double duty outing at all even though it can tend to be rather pedestrian. However, the character of Damon nearly took me out of it all in the early stages. Why do so many movies like this see the need to have an annoying bullying supercilious brat like this? Otherwise well acted and directed. Miss Foster and Miss Weiss are two I will always watch and here they don't disappoint. Thankfully Adam Hann-Byrd as Fred Tate is not cloying at all. So many movies can have extremely annoying kid characters that suck any life out of a film. This one did not go down that path.

Foster directs assuredly...but trips up at the final gate

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 12 April 2008]

Child genius in a working-class environment goes off to college under the auspices of a nonpareil female mentor, which brings forth resentment and maybe some jealousy in the kid's single mom. Seemingly slight drama is full of dead-on touches of youthful heartache which can resonate deeply with anyone who has experienced childhood disappointment (such as a birthday party no one attends). Fred Tate isn't a happy, sunny kid--he's "pensive"--and he's almost always a fish-out-of-water. Director Jodie Foster (who also stars as Tate's mother) does a good job of guiding us through all the complicated emotions inherent in this story, but intentionally veers off track at the end, giving us a really happy ending that feels like a cheat. Foster may have added it for the benefit of the audience as an emotional release, but I didn't buy it. Despite this fault--and a somewhat wayward section at the university which seems designed to show off Harry Connick Jr.'s sass and musical talent--the film has a velvety kind of vulnerability which is quite touching. Foster as an actress does a good job (although her character's trashy mouth gets tiresome), but Dianne Wiest is unable to come up with anything surprising as Fred's mentor (who, too easily, is shown to be brilliant but lonesome herself). ** from ****

Treads the fine line of sap, but doesn't cross it.

[Sho Nuff · 9/10 · 6 February 1999]

Little Man Tate is a very good movie. Jodie Foster's debut as a filmmaker shows a little boy genius, who we've all seen before. The difference is the little boy is human, and not just a brain. He worries about people dying, envies the popular athletic boy, all the while plays music in competition form and forms math problems on his head. The conflict between Jodie Foster, the mother, and Dianne Wiest, the child genius grown up, is somewhat annoying, but it makes sense, as they are both extremes of parenting. The child in this movie plays it superbly, as does Foster and Wiest. Some points of this movie I was about to worry that the emotional music was coming and we'd see some sappy speech. Thankfully that never happened. What this movie is, is an emotional movie that doesn't have a bad guy or good guy to root or cheer for. Everyone here's prerogatives make sense, and it's up to you who you support, and what you think about Fred Tate, the little genius.

A narrow audience will really like this film

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 17 April 2017]

To be honest, I'm a little disappointed in this film. Don't get me wrong...it's a good movie...but it did something that happens all often in films...it sort of left us hanging at end. All that story and then we're dismissed without knowing much about how things went on after that. And, the film does occasionally drag.

However, there is a lot to like here. I liked the most important aspect of the film -- that there is a difference between loving a child and enriching a child. The mother here (Jodie Foster) could love, but not enrich. On the other hand the foundation leader (Dianne Wiest) could enrich, but not love.

The cast here is great. Jodie Foster hits the target with her performance, as does Dianne Wiest (a very much underrated actress). Adam Hann-Byrd as the boy is superb. Harry Connick Jr. brought an interesting aspect to the story, but his role is so minor that it left me wanting more exploration of how the boy might interact with a very different type of adult. David Hyde Pierce...I would have liked a little more screen time, as well. I always enjoy Debi Mazar.

The producers were brave here. This is not a film that would have a wide audience. Who would really like this film? Fans of Foster or Wiest. And people who are interested in, or involved with kids who have true giftedness (and that was me in my pre-retirement role as a principal in a school with a large gifted program...although not this gifted). If you fit in one of those categories, you will no doubt enjoy this film.

The Bus driver in the movie

[wjuneboone · 4/10 · 5 January 2015]

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 through

You don't know how much hard work these actors and directors do until your up close to watch them work

Thank you for stopping by to read me

Daniel Freeman Cincinnati OHio