Maxwell Kane (Elden Henson) is a quiet giant kid in Cincinnati living with his grandparents (Harry Dean Stanton, Gena Rowlands). He fears the return of his imprisoned killer father (James Gandolfini). He is hounded by classmate Blade and his Doghouse Boys. Kevin Dillon (Kieran Culkin) is his cripple next door neighbor with his mother (Sharon Stone). Blade bowls Kevin over and blames it on Max. Max gets detention and Kevin starts tutoring him. They become friends imagining themselves as a Knight in King Arthur's Roundtable as Freak the Mighty.
The movie starts off poorly with the school bullies. They are very much two dimensional cartoons and played by weak kid actors. Elden is basically silent except for his narration. Kieran Culkin does a good job with a nice performance and has nice chemistry with Elden. The movie starts off weakly. Then the kid bullies take a backseat and Gandolfini makes a surprise appearance. He shocks the movie into another gear despite the odd accent from Gillian Anderson and the outlandish journey of Kevin. This is hardcore sentimental. I like the idea but the execution isn't the best.
The movie starts off poorly with the school bullies. They are very much two dimensional cartoons and played by weak kid actors. Elden is basically silent except for his narration. Kieran Culkin does a good job with a nice performance and has nice chemistry with Elden. The movie starts off weakly. Then the kid bullies take a backseat and Gandolfini makes a surprise appearance. He shocks the movie into another gear despite the odd accent from Gillian Anderson and the outlandish journey of Kevin. This is hardcore sentimental. I like the idea but the execution isn't the best.