Harold
Spencer Breslin, Ally Sheedy, Nikki Blonski
Directed by T. Sean Shannon
City Lights Media 2008
100 minutes
It’s always nice to see a high school comedy that a new premise and is not totally stupid. This is what you get with Harold. Even if this DVD is a low budget movie and goes for toilet humor early on, it is still fun to watch.
Harold (Spencer Breslin) is a thirteen year old kid who looks and acts like a man in his fifties or Brent Butt from Corner Gas. His life changes when he moves to a new town and a new school. This being a teen high school comedy there are the prerequisite elements such as the school bully and his pals, the jock gym teacher who picks out and on the losers, and the cute girl the loser character has a crush on.
This DVD fortunately has original characters like Maude, the sixty year old neighbor who has the hots for the main character (Harold and Maude, get it?). Stand-up comic Dave Attell has a short turn as a strip joint doorman when Harold discovers the better side of his new town. Cuba Gooding Jr. plays the benevolent janitor who helps Harold out. It’s nice to see Gooding Jr. in a decent enough role for a change.
Another thing I liked about this comedy is it does not fart around. You immediately know what is going on and who is who, and the setups and situations move at a quick pace. There are also a few original moments here like a motorized wheelchair race.
Not everything about Harold is really good. Ally Sheedy phones in her performance as Harold’s mom and the sister character is pointless.
Harold will not go down in history as a great comedy but it is fun to watch.
