The Good Son (1993)

[SlidePocket 707]

After the two "Home Alone" films, Macaulay Culkin attempts to branch out by going evil by terrorizing his cousin Elijah Wood as the latter comes to stay with Culkin and his family after Wood's father had to go on a business trip and had recently lost his mother.

 

This attempt didn't quite work out as "The Good Son" marked the beginning of the end of Culkin's career as a child star and his next three films from 1994 (Richie Rich, Getting Even with Dad, The Pagemaster) all flopped, prompting him to drop out of the limelight. Any thoughts about this 1993 gem?

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Bump this movie is fucking crazy. Although I do get the feeling that this movie would bum June the fuck out.

[RyanSz 3140]

Yeah talk about a complete 180 in roles. This might have worked if Culkin waited a few years to make it more surprising of a turn towards darker material, like Robin Williams did in the early 2000s or what Culkin himself did in Party Monster. Yet to do it right after being in two huge holiday hits is just mind boggling and really shows why he sort of had to separate himself from his parents, as I'm sure they were a focal point in him taking this role. And very rarely do killer kid movies do well enough to not come off as bonkers or hokey. The Omen and Bad Seed are two examples of it working well for a variety of reasons while this and countless others are just insane because eventually the audience realizes that the kid is either going to have to be killed or is going to get away with it, both which are pretty downer types of endings.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

I loved Robin Williams darker movies, One Hour Photo was fantastic.

 

The Good Son is just genuinely upsetting. I dont know how the fuck his agent talked him into or let him do this role. Right after establishing himself as a lovable scamp in Home Alone, he decides to play an unrepentant creepy child murderer.

 

I imagine on paper they felt they were a shoo in for an oscar or something.

 

 

 

-Edit- I just realize I made it sound as if I was asking why Robin Williams would do One Hour Photo, I actually meant it in pertaining to Culkin.

[RyanSz 3140]

To be fair he was just a stalker in that, but that was also paired with Insomnia where he was a killer, Death to Smoochy which I thought was his best role of all these dark roles, and even the Final Cut which was kind of a dark sci-fi movie. He even did an episode of Law and Order: SVU which played on the news story that Compliance was also based on. And I don't think it took much to convince him to do it, as at that point in his career was sort of on a downturn after winning his Oscar with What Dreams May Come, Patch Adams, Jakob the Liar, and Bicentennial Man, so he was probably looking for something new to reinvent himself, which was a great choice on his part.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

I'm glad he chose to do a bunch of more diverse projects his darker movies are great. Insomnia is one of my favorite things he's been in.

 

Culkin on the other hand, chose the wrong role to diversify with and ended up just creeping everyone out.

[GottaLoveTheGute 41]

The Good Son is a good choice, but if you want to see a child star kill some people, I recommend Mickey (1992).

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104870/?ref_=nm_knf_i3

 

Watch the blonde kid form Family Ties do some crazy shit!

[dontgochasingfacewaterfalls 0]

What I believe may truly have been occurring in Macaulay Culkin's brain in 1993.

[SlidePocket 707]

Jesse Bradford was originally going to play the evil kid, but once Kit Culkin came in the picture, he demanded the producers to get Macaulay as the child sociopath or he would pull him from Home Alone 2. Kit's plan worked, Bradford was replaced and Macaulay's sister Quinn was also cast to play his sister as well.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

What a weird movie to fight for. A film that makes hollywoods lovable scamp into a sociopathic sibling murderer.

 

It'd be like Tom Hanks demanding to play a role where he's a pedophile immediately after Sleepless in Seattle.

[sillstaw 414]

What a weird movie to fight for. A film that makes hollywoods lovable scamp into a sociopathic sibling murderer.

 

It'd be like Tom Hanks demanding to play a role where he's a pedophile immediately after Sleepless in Seattle.

 

Or like if Jim Carrey played an obsessive stalker after doing two "Ace Ventura" movies.

 

Hey, wait a minute...

 

Jesse Bradford was originally going to play the evil kid, but once Kit Culkin came in the picture, he demanded the producers to get Macaulay as the child sociopath or he would pull him from Home Alone 2. Kit's plan worked, Bradford was replaced and Macaulay's sister Quinn was also cast to play his sister as well.

 

From Roger Ebert's review:

 

The screenplay is by Ian McEwan, that British master of the macabre ("The Comfort Of Strangers" was based on one of his novels).

 

But don't blame him. He has already published an article in a London newspaper complaining that once the Culkin family came aboard the movie, the original screenplay was the last of anyone's considerations. The story was shaped to fit MacAulay, he charges.

 

Strange. You'd imagine that the tyke's parents and managers would have paid good money to keep him out of this story.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Yea its even stranger they got his sister to play the role, what a fucking weird concept to have to struggle around with when you're that young. That you're going to pretend to try to murder your sister, and constantly threaten her life throughout the movie.

 

The ending is fucking insane too. Forgive me but spoilers on 20+ year old movie, when that lady fucking drops Macaulay in order to save Elijah I remember losing my mind that this movie actually ended with Kevin Mcallister getting unceremoniously lobbed onto some jagged rocks by his own mother.

 

I thought mothers were supposed to have super strength in those situations?

[mrrichardson 5]

I love this movie. Loved it as a kid and love it as an adult. I understand why people would suggest this for HDTGM and I agree that it would make for a great episode, but I really don't feel as though this is a bad movie. Very entertaining from start to finish and great acting.