So what happens when you take a beloved 32 page book published in 1972 about a boy named Alexander who is obsessed with all things Down Under and bring it into modern day and expand those 32 pages into a feature film? You get a wonderful, wonderful, laugh out loud, fun-filled family film that just brightens the day.
Alexander Cooper is having the worst day of his life. Gum in his hair, getting bullied and slammed into lockers at school, no breakfast, not getting to do a history assignment on his beloved Australia, inadvertently knocking over all the trophy cases in the school hallway, and to top it off, a classmate is having a super-cool-over-the-top birthday party at the same time as Alexander’s plain old backyard cake and ice cream party, so no one is going to Alexander’s party. Anything that can go wrong for Alexander does go wrong, including his birthday plans. But what about for the rest of his family?
Oblivious to Alexander’s plight, unemployed aerospace engineer stay-at-home Dad is super upbeat, while publishing executive Mom is anxiously planning a new book launch with Dick Van Dyke doing an inaugural reading. Sister Emily is stoked about playing the lead in the school play “Peter Pan” while brother Anthony is “blessed” for a hot looking girlfriend, taking his driving test and going to the prom. How can they all be soooo upbeat and happy all the time? How can Alexander be the only one having bad days?
But what happens when the clock strikes midnight and Alexander makes a quiet cupcake birthday wish, wishing that his family would know just once what it feels like to have a very bad day? As morning breaks, the Cooper family is about to find out as Alexander’s birthday wish comes true.
We’ve got an infant coloring his face and eating a green magic marker, Anthony’s tux isn’t at the shop and he gets stuck with a 1970’s powder blue ruffled shirt number, Emily wakes up sick and overdoses on cough medicine before her play, Dad gets a great job interview that gets interrupted when Anthony not only flunks his driving test but lands in jail while Mom, poor Mom, her book launch is a disaster when the printing is wrong and Dick Van Dyke is talking about “taking a dump on someone’s face.” And the hits keep coming all the way up to Alexander’s birthday party. This is truly the most terrible, horrible, no good very day in the history of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days. But the one person who can handle it all is the one who is used to very bad days – Alexander. Can he steer his family through the rough waters of a very bad day into the calm of a normally hectic one? And what about his birthday?
As Kelly, Jennifer Garner is perfect. While we saw her a couple years ago in “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” as a mom wanting to be perfect and not knowing what to do, here she’s what a real working mom is; one who has all the balls in the air, adding more every day, yet still making it through and loving her family. Steve Carell is, well, Steve Carell. Upbeat exasperation but the kind of dad any kid would want to have, so much so here that with Carell’s perpetually sunny outlook mixed with sage advice, he could give Robert Reed’s Mike Brady a run for “dad of the year” race! Kerris Dorsey and Dylan Minnette are ideal as Emily and Anthony and succinctly embody the truth in sibling relationships. As stuck-up beauty and Anthony’s prom date, Celia, Bella Thorne is the poster child for the arrogant and snobbish campus queens who torment those beneath them. Supporting hilarity comes from driving instructor Jennifer Coolidge, book publisher boss Megan Mullally and, of course, Dick Van Dyke.
But the real casting joy comes in the form of Ed Oxenbloud. A scene stealer from start to finish as Alexander, Oxenbloud is a delight – both on screen and off! Himself an Aussie, it seems fated to cast him as the all-things-Australian-loving Alexander which allows Oxenbloud to have a real ease and comfort zone in Alexander’s world. Notable is his skill for accents and he completely loses his own, nailing a Southern California 12 year old American. Oxenbloud brings a joy to the character and excels with facial expressiveness not to mention run of the mill 12 year old mannerisms. There is a fluidity not only in his performance but in his interactions with other cast members. Be on the lookout for great things from this young man beyond ALEXANDER!
No stranger to the Elias household on its release in 1972, I have often wondered how long it would take someone to adapt the Judith Viorst book for the big screen given the wealth of visual and character possibilities! Thankfully, producers Lisa Henson and Dan Levine together with Shawn Levy saw that same potential and bring us the film we have today – ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY. Directed by Miguel Arteta and adapted for the screen by Rob Lieber, ALEXANDER is fun. Pure and simple. This is family life. This is what families are all about. None of the perfect schmerfect stuff. Give us the infant coloring his face with magic markers and parents asking “Is that toxic”? Overdosing on cough medicine? Who hasn’t! Crocodiles in the living room? Wrecked cars? Setting your shirt sleeves on fire at dinner? A boxing kangaroo? Thunder from Down Under strippers at a kid’s birthday party? Just another day in the life. The adventures are fresh, fun and entertaining. Each character and calamity resonates with truth and laughter. Messaging about families and the idea of needing the bad to appreciate the good and vice versa is organically interwoven and doesn’t hit you over the head. And the family bonding and dealing with life as a family is something we see too little of on the big and small screens, which makes ALEXANDER a breath of fresh air. ALEXANDER is structured and designed for enjoyment. And it succeeds.
Visually notable is that no matter how bad the day gets, Arteta and cinematographer Terry Stacey keep the visual tone upbeat and light thanks to bright, naturalistic light. They make good use of the color green throughout the film developing a pleasant metaphoric texture that is alive while capturing intimate familial moments, typically lensing wider so as to continually show the family as a unit and not single out individuals. Nice detail and thoughtfulness went into capturing the emotional beats of the Cooper family.
There’s no way that you can have a terrible, horrible no good, very bad day when you see ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY. Alexander (and a fun appearance by “Thunder from Down Under”) insures that your day will be great!!
Directed by Miguel Arteta
Written by Rob Lieber based on the book by Judith Viorst
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Steve Carell, Ed Oxenbloud, Kerris Dorsey, Dylan Minnette, Bella Thorne, Jennifer Coolidge, Megan Mullally, Dick Van Dyke
