Me and the Kid

This is not as bad a film as I had been led to believe by Maltin's review, and definitely is not an attempt to "cash in" on "HOME ALONE." The "Kid," an only child whose well-to-do parents are too absorbed in their own activities to spend any time with him, delights in the attention he gets from one of his two kidnappers, and the pair become "buddies," the kidnapper and Kid on the run from the police and FBI, with the Kid enjoying the attentions of his buddy (called "Gramps" by the Kid in one scene) as the two "head for Mexico" with the kidnapper's abandoned partner, the Kid's parents and law enforcement in pursuit. Not a great film, but a nice diversion for an afternoon, with a fun Bob Cobert score, nice photography and some amusing scenes for the Kid. (As far as comparisons to other films, it has more in common with Curtis' own "THE GREAT ICE RIP-OFF" than "HOME ALONE.")

Young Gary (Zuckerman) walks in on two cons breaking into his father's safe. Harry (Aiello), the "brains of the operation" advises against it, but Roy grabs Gary and drags him to their (stolen) getaway vehicle. Roy is determined to get big bucks out of Gary's father when they discovered that the $250k they thought was in the safe, wasn't there. The father is notified of the crime by his business associate (Stein), while he is with his paramour. He notifies his wife (shopping in Paris) who is not exactly an ideal parent either.

Meanwhile, Gary removes his blindfold and sees the faces of his kidnappers which angers psychotic Roy (Pantoliano) into threatening the boy's life after they get the money. Harry, a basically good-natured guy, protects the kid and when Roy takes off to collect the ransom, he and the kid take off. After a comedy of errors, he and Gary return to the hideout and Roy returns with the cash, and a gun. When he tries to kill the kid, Harry pulls out a gun he has just stolen and ties up Roy, taking his share of the cash and leaving with young Gary.

During their hilarious escape and preparations to flee to Mexico, Gary bonds with Harry, who has taken a liking to the lonely, neglected boy. He even gets the kid a pet. When their (stolen) car breaks down, Harry and Gary are taken in by Rose, a kindly motel operator (Moriarty). Rose takes a liking to Harry and young Gary begins to feel left out.

Another jealous character, Rose's ex-husband, a deputy sheriff, is suspicious of Harry and discovers the car is stolen. WHen he attempts to capture Harry, Rose puts him off the track. Eventually Roy escapes his bonds, and takes off in pursuit of Harry and the kid, this time with vengeance on his mind. The unusual conclusion has the kid telling the cops what to do.

Orion Pictures, the distributor of "Me And The Kid", was suffering from financial woes at the time and barely released this independently-made production. However, had they been able to give this movie a much wider release, I am pretty sure that the movie still wouldn't have been a success. It's a somewhat cheap-looking movie, badly photographed, and while the movie is set on American's east coast they apparently couldn't shoot most of the movie there and instead shot on obvious California locations. Chunks of the movie seem to be missing, probably lost in the editing room when they realized they had a bomb on their hands and were trying frantically to save it. I don't think even kids will find this movie entertaining - despite the set-up, the movie is surprisingly bland for the most part. And there are a few sequences so intense that younger children may be frightened by them. Add the movie's questionable theme - it's okay to run away from home if you don't like how your parents feel about you - and you have a movie not acceptable to parents OR kids.