Max Fischer is a high school student, in many ways wise beyond his years, in many ways not. Basically he has high expectations - he also has a thing for older women.

Oh, hang on – that’s Rushmore.

Ahem.

Oscar Grubman is a high school student, in many ways wise beyond his years, in many ways not. Basically he has high expectations - he also has a thing for older women.

Right, that’s better.

On a break from school for the Thanksgiving holiday, it isn’t massive chunks of baked foul with lashings of cranberry sauce, or even gargantuan portions of pecan pie that’s on Oscar (or ‘Tadpole’ if you prefer)’s mind, rather the fact that he’s in love. The type to ingest copious amounts of Voltaire, at just 15 he’s decided that girls of his age are simply too dumb, and he has no need for the lures of such childish things as pop music. Instead he has turned his affections upon one Eve (Sigourney Weaver), however there’s just one trifling issue – she’s kind of sort of his stepmother.

After a bender at a New York bar (don’t these places check IDs?), the arrogant, stuck-up little snob/smart, sweet passionate protagonist of our story (you choose)

And this is where your tail was...

ends up being rescued by Eve’s best friend, Diane (Bebe Neuwirth). She takes him home and after a bit of a backrub, and no little attraction from the fact that she’s wearing Eve’s scarf, Oscar rubs body bits together with her – despite a 25 or so year age difference. Cue mucho paranoia from our little grouch boy, culminating in a bit of an incident with a misplaced lump of doggy hair that’s been masquerading as a sideburn and… well, his own personal tragedy rapidly unravels.

“Common sense is not so common.�

While on the surface Tadpole does resemble the simply remarkable Rushmore a little in setup, it never quite gets its nose anywhere near equalling that tale’s wit, charm or indeed its impious out-thereness. Instead it’s just a quite simple story of precociousness and life lessons learned – and (mercifully) nothing like the exclamation mark riddled frenzy masquerading as a story summation on the DVD’s packaging. At a rather non-movie length 75 minutes (including almost seven of credits) Tadpole certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome, and while some may just want to slap Aaron Stanford’s lead character, he’s made up for by good supporting performances from Weaver, John Ritter and most notably the vastly underrated Neuwirth, who totally steals the film every time she pops up onscreen.

Contrary to the packaging, Tadpole hits our screens in a ratio of 1.78:1, close to the 1.85:1 it claims. The anamorphically-enhanced image is alright for something shot with a scant budget on Digital Video, although at times things tend to get a bit grainy – by-products of some of the many processing stages the picture went through (for more – much more – on this, refer to the commentary). Colour is, well, quite New York, even if it tends to vary a little at times, blacks are suitably black and the only other real quibble transfer-wise (as distinct from the odd technical problem or three inherent in the film, notably often very shaky camerawork) is an attack of an aliasing tablecloth at one point.

Tadpole’s sound wriggles its way into our ears via a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, although most of the time you’d be excused for forgetting that it has six speakers to run amok in. Mind you, this type of talkative film isn’t the best thing to grab for a sonic demo anyway, and more importantly the sound mix we’re given gives clear and well-synched dialogue at all times. As for those surrounds, the odd bit of ambience and musical backup sneaks out of them at times, and you may hear the subwoofwoof whisper once or twice on the odd song. Speaking of which, on top of Renaud Pion’s score – a typical New York film type affair – there are a few French tracks dropped in here and there, as well as Everything But the Girl covering Paul Simon and even a ditty from one Mr David Bowie.

Hopping over to the ‘special feature’ department – yes, it’s supposed to be singular – there is a commentary from Tadpole’s director, Gary Winick. It’s quite technical in nature, rabbiting on about shutter speeds, lighting, ADR, visual manipulation and the like, and does feature big gaps at times, however if you’re a student filmmaker you may find it interesting, as he has a lot of advice to impart in regards to avoiding mistakes, generally by pointing out the many he feels he made here. Would somebody please give the man a tickle? Thanks.

It may have been cruel bringing up Rushmore, for it’s in a different league than Tadpole - and until now I hadn't even made mention of The Graduate. But if you’re after a relatively endearing quick flick which is definitely a cut above most generic, teen-aimed swill, this may do the trick – just don’t enter into it with TOO high expectations…