Gee, this one must have been hard to dream up. The story conference in Hollywood must have gone like this:
Producer: How about a teenage version of ”Heaven Can Wait”?
Studio Executive: OK.
Not much more thinking than that has resulted in ”The Heavenly Kid,”
the saga of a selfish and self-destructive `60s teenager who kills himself in a game of ”chicken,” but gets a chance to redeem himself by returning to life in the `80s where he is supposed to serve as guardian angel for a jerky boy.
There`s the fatal car race, the ”where am I?” scene when he wakes up in purgatory (which looks like a neon-filled singles` bar), followed by a trip back to Earth accompanied by a guardian angel who explains the rules. He`ll be invisible to all but the poor soul he`s supposed to help.
That kind of standard set-up could zoom off into all sorts of directions. One cute idea might be to have the kids from the `60s positively hate the
`80s. But after feinting in that direction, the predictable script of ”The Heavenly Kid” marches straight ahead with a yarn about a stud transforming a shy, clumsy boy into a cool guy. That`s been the basic premise of at least a half-dozen recent teen films that will be remembered only in the cable listings of the very near future.
It`s a toss-up which kid is less interesting in ”The Heavenly Kid”–the savior (Lewis Smith) or the savee (Chicago native Jason Gedrick). Neither actor has much personality. And a last-minute grab through a plot twist for some genuine emotion is thrown away for a lack of screen time.
That`s because the production team responsible for ”The Heavenly Kid”
feels more comfortable staging a drag race than a conversation.
Teenage summer film trash such as ”The Heavenly Kid” makes one root for the leaves to start turning brown. Bring on the serious movies, please!
”The Heavenly Kid”
(STAR) 1/2
Mini-review: Heaven and everyone else can wait
Directed by Cary Medoway; written by Cary Medoway and Martin Copeland;
photographed by Steven Poster; edited by Christopher Greenbury; music by Kennard Ramsey; produced by Mort Engelberg; an Orion Pictures release at the Chestnut Station and outlying theaters. Rated PG-13.
THE CAST
Bobby…….. Lewis Smith
Lenny… Jason Gedrick
Emily… Jane Kaczmarek
Rafferty…….. Richard Mulligan
Joe….. Mark Metcalf
McIntyre…….. Beau Dremann
