North (1994)

Director:

Rob Reiner

Writers (WGA):

Alan Zweibel (novel)
Alan Zweibel (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

22 July 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Family

Tagline:

North's hopping mad with his parents, and now he's off on a world wide adventure!

Plot:

Eleven-year-old North has had it with his parents. They are always busy with their careers and don't give North the attention he needs...

Plot Keywords:

Parent | Easter Bunny | Alaska | Lawyer | Child Boss

Awards:

1 win & 9 nominations

Cast

Elijah Wood	...	North
Jason Alexander	...	North's Dad
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	...	North's Mom
Marc Shaiman	...	Piano Player
Jussie Smollett	...	Adam
Taylor Fry	...	Zoe
Alana Austin	...	Sarah
Peg Shirley	...	Teacher
Chuck Cooper	...	Umpire
Alan Zweibel	...	Coach
Donavon Dietz	...	Assistant Coach
Teddy Bergman	...	Teammate
Michael Cipriani	...	Teammate
Joran Corneal	...	Teammate
Joshua Kaplan	...	Teammate

MPAA:

Rated PG for a few words.

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Finland:K-3 (2001 re-rating) | Finland:S (original rating) | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/6 | Spain:T | UK:PG | USA:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Alaska, USA

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

At the time of its release, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel considered this to be the worst film they'd ever seen. Ebert wrote, "I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it." The pair later reviewed it on their television show, where Ebert went on to say that the movie made him "cringe... just sitting here thinking about it." Gene Siskel characterized it as "junk" and said that it made him feel "unclean." The clip of their review would go on to become a popular internet meme associated with bad movie reviews.

Quotes:

Pa Tex: Well I reckon we'll wake up early and eat, then we'll dig for oil and eat, then we'll rope some doggies, bust a few broncs and maybe get a bite to eat. You like Tex Mex?
North: Sure, I'm a big fan of any food that straddles two borders.
Pa Tex: That's my boy.

Movie Connections:

References "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" (1952)

Soundtrack:

FATHER KNOWS BEST THEME

Starts out terrible, and somehow goes south from there

When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, The Story of Us... and I hear that This Is Spinal Tap is utterly hilarious... so what happened, Reiner? I guess everyone is entitled to make at least one mistake. Even if this particular one is really tough to forgive. If he hadn't proved himself so thoroughly after this, I'm not sure one could disassociate him from this. I haven't read the novel. Can it be as awful as this? I sure hope not. This is painfully stupid, unbelievably offensive and never actually funny. The jokes are disturbing, sick, weird and/or poor, and often based on ridiculous stereotypes that serve no other purpose than to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the two guys who wrote the script for this, Alan Zweibel and Andrew Scheinman, have not been out of their own country in their entire lives. This wastes so much acting and comedic talent that you have to wonder if there was some sort of bet involved, to see if they could actually get all of these skilled people and have them recite horrible material, and see if anyone would outright quit. I'm not sure I'd say that Elijah was one of them at this point, but then again, all the child performers in this are annoying. There is brief moderately strong language in this. The DVD has a trailer and about about ten minutes worth of interviews with the director and cast. I recommend... well, not this, not for anyone. If you do find yourself watching at least a little of this, I urge you to treat yourself to the Nostalgia Critic's video review of it. 1/10