Willis, gifted child actor give `Kid’ punch

In theaters

THE KID. 101 minutes, PG, directed by Jon Turteltaub, written by Audrey Wells.

Jon Turteltaub’s “The Kid” is the sort of film that asks audiences to re-evaluate their lives, to look hard at who they were as children (however painful that might be) and what they’ve become as adults (however uncomfortable and embarrassing that might be).

It asks a tough question — how many of us have grown into our childhood ideals and realized our childhood dreams — and is betting the orphanage that many of us haven’t.

The film is being marketed for children, but it’s actually more appropriate for aging boomers, a sentimental romp into one man’s midlife crisis that literally hauls out his damaged inner child and gives it a long, extended spanking that — as the film’s previews make abundantly clear — ends in an even longer bear hug at film’s end.

The man at the center of the film’s emotional meltdown is Russ Duritz (Bruce Willis), an arrogant, super-rich L.A. image consultant whose cold, cynical ways make him a natural for his own image makeover.

Rude and oh, so proud of it, Russ is a smooth, swaggering piece of work who never won any crown for congeniality — but who, a week before his 40th birthday, is about to be forced to at least consider running for the title.

Somehow, Russ’ 8-year-old self, Rusty (Spencer Breslin), has zipped into the future and landed with a chubby thud on his doorstep. Russ, an immaculately groomed workaholic in fitted Armani suits, is certain he’s hallucinating, that this chatty, pot-bellied little nose-picker couldn’t possibly be him as a child.

Turning the tables nicely, director Turteltaub also takes the child’s point of view. As incredulous as Russ, Rusty can’t believe he’s turned into a “40-year-old loser who isn’t a pilot, who doesn’t have a family — and who doesn’t own a dog!”

Recalling a wealth of other films, especially “Big,” “Back to the Future” and “American Beauty,” “The Kid” is at its best when revisiting Russ’ past and examining the events that shaped him into the cold climber he is now.

Trying to alter those events is a timeworn cinematic device, so the good news here is that the film — as contrived as it is — doesn’t rely on such an easy way out. It won’t be revealed here just how Russ changes his life, but it is satisfying to find that he has to do much of the work on his own.

With Lily Tomlin, Emily Mortimer and Jean Smart in strong supporting roles, “The Kid” once again finds Willis sharing the screen with a gifted child actor. Spencer Breslin may not receive the accolades Haley Joel Osment scored in “The Sixth Sense,” but he’s just as good, his comic timing as sharp and as honed as Willis’ own.

Grade: B+

On video

THE HURRICANE. 125 minutes, R, directed by Norman Jewison, written by Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon.

Just as New Jersey-born boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was a crowd pleaser in the ring, Norman Jewison’s film based on the man’s life is this week’s biggest crowd pleaser in video stores.

“The Hurricane” is a big, emotional film of crushing disappointment and wounding indifference, hope won and hope lost, evil reigning while righteous indignation burns, the internal landscape ultimately triumphing over the external.

It’s one of those rare movies that works in spite of its overt contrivances and manipulations, a film whose soul seethes with outrage and defiance — and two of Jewison’s favorite topics: social and racial injustice.

It’s a flaw that Jewison, the director of “In the Heat of the Night” and “A Soldier’s Story,” finds no middle ground here, no room for characters who aren’t either purely evil or purely good (the liberties the director took in fleshing out Carter’s character caused a stir when the film was released late last year), and it’s a shame he doesn’t trust his story enough to steer clear of melodrama, but the good news here is how terrific “The Hurricane” is regardless of its shortcomings.

The reason it’s so good is because of Denzel Washington’s Academy Award-nominated performance as Carter, a man who spent nearly 20 years in prison for a triple murder he didn’t commit only to be freed after the enormous efforts of three Canadians (played here by Liev Schreiber, John Hannah and Deborah Kara Unger). Jewison never once explores the communal relationship between these three, but remarkably that oversight doesn’t harm the film.

Our focus — and Jewison’s — is on Washington, one of our best actors, who has rarely been this good; throughout the film, he wears Carter’s demons like a mask, turning the man’s deep inner turmoil and even deeper sense of pride into a showpiece for restraint that builds to a stirring climax.

Grade: A-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Monday and Thursdays in the News, Tuesdays and Thursdays on NEWS CENTER at 5:30 and NEWS CENTER at 11, and Saturday and Sunday on NEWS CENTER Morning Report.