The greatest mitzvah ever produced by Hollywood... I don't care what's wrong with this thing, you couldn't pay me to badmouth it.
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12/01/05
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The Kid & I (2005)
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:9
Rotten:17
Average Rating:4.6/10
Consensus: Well-intentioned but sappy, The Kid & I is a strange hybrid of comedy and cinema verite.
Theatrical Release:Dec 2, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: An offbeat piece of real-life wish-fulfillment, THE KID & I stars Tom Arnold as Bill Williams, a down-and-out actor who, just like Arnold himself, had his greatest screen success opposite Arnold... [More]
Starring: Tom Arnold, Richard Edson, Joe Mantegna, Henry Winkler
Director: Penelope Spheeris
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Reviews for The Kid & I
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12/06/05
The Kid and I is not a great film, but you know what? It achieves what it sets out to achieve, and it isn't boring, and it kept me intrigued and involved.
12/01/05
Top CriticThough The Kid & I falters as both a comedy and an After School Special, it works as a rather touching episode of This is Your Life, with a parade of cameos from Arnold's career that'll coax a sniffle or two from his family.
12/01/05
Tom Arnold wrote and stars in this heart-on-sleeve "comedy" that will go down in cinema history as one of the most awkward additions ever made to the genre.
06/15/09
Might make for marginally effective telephon amusement but is otherwise amateur hour.
11/22/05
This wan attempt at inspirational comedy doesn't bother to look closely at anything.
12/02/05
Top CriticNewcomer Gores is endearing onscreen, but the film built around him is a mess: an amateurish script, a treacly score, barely there direction by Penelope Spheeris and a pointless parade of celebrity cameos.
12/02/05
It’s terribly uneven, it’s far too corny and it’s really not all that great, but it’s so strange and so compelling that you have to see it.
12/05/05
Top CriticIt isn’t perfect but it is so oddly sincere that I found myself growing a sort of affection for it even as all common sense was telling me to think otherwise.
12/06/05
A movie with a message as self-congratulatory as it is meta: All problems are surmountable when selfless Hollywooders work extra, extra hard, pulling together 'for the kid.'
11/30/05
Top CriticWorks most poignantly as a testament to a father's love and an unapologetic celebration of Hollywood's m.o.
03/01/07
Gores certainly seems to be enjoying himself, and diplomacy and plain old good taste prevent one from saying much of anything about his screen performance. Arnold doesn’t merit such kindness, nor does producer and director Penelope Spheeris.
12/01/05
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12/30/06
What sets The Kid & I apart from most Hollywood comedies is its restraint, on the part of Arnold, both as writer and actor, as well as Spheeris. Comedy actually grows out of character and situation.
12/02/05
Top CriticHas straight-to-DVD written all over it.
05/04/06
Imagine if Tom Arnold had written "Adaptation." No, really.
12/15/05
Tom Arnold does have talent, but some self-defeating streak keeps him from using it.
12/02/05
The mesmerizingly awful The Kid & I is a historic first: a comedy about the making of a vanity production that is itself a vanity production.
12/06/05
Top CriticA chore to watch, The Kid and I is self-congratulatory, excruciatingly sentimental and sloppily written and directed.
12/01/05
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