Joe the King (1999)

The Worst Film Ever

Such a frustrating disappointment

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie was, firstly, nothing like what all the summaries, plots, etc. The mother wasn't abusive at all; maybe a bit neglectful, but I would call even that a stretch. In fact, the only 'abuse' is once when the father swats him, and we hear about the second time, when the brother tells Joe that his father punched their mother. Neglect, yeah, there's a lot of that. Were they crappy parents? Yeah, definitely. But to make it out like this kid 'suffers horrible abuse' is just insultingly ridiculous. Secondly, there was not a single character in this whole film who I really cared about at all. The parents were stupid, dense, and thick, the brother was willing to turn his back on Joe at any time, the teacher (played by a very disappointing Ethan Hawke) was -at least this was my impression, I'm sure people will disagree -a retarded moron, who didn't really care about Joe at all, the people at his job who alternate between nice and 'evil horrible monsters' so quickly it's not believable, and Joe's friends who end up betraying him, or turning their back on him. Again, most of this firm is unbelievable. Almost all of the characters go from evil demons to loving saints at some point, mostly in the blink of an eye. I also believe that the so called 'abuse' in this story helps perpetuate a large part of what is wrong with America today. There are real kids out there, who live in constant hell, not knowing whether or not today will be the day a family member takes the abuse too far and kills them. But I have continually seen films like this, and often times in real life, where a kid mouths off, his parent swats him, and it's 'OH MY GOD, THEY BEAT THE POOR CHILD!'. No. Joe had it pretty damn light compared to a lot of kids. All that aside... There still was not a single redeeming quality. Not even Joe himself. The boy brought on ninety percent of his own problems by being retarded. Horrible, horrible movie, with nothing going for it.

Joe the King is a coming of age story based loosely on writer-director Frank Whaley's life that looks like a Dickens story updated. Joe is ashamed of his drunken no-account father who's the janitor of the school Joe attends, a fact that his classmates and even a teacher delight in forcing Joe to admit. Joe has to wash dishes to help meet expenses but also to scrounge food to eat. One night his father in a drunken rage beats Joe's mother and smashes her treasured collection of vintage LPs. To replace it, Joe breaks into the restaurant and steals money but is found out and there is a freeze frame ending that recalls Truffaut's French classic, The 400 Blows. Noah Fleiss at 14 is a veteran and does an excellent job of bringing to life the doomed but plucky Joe while Val Kilmer portrays an insensitive slob who realizes only at the end that his son loves him despite everything. Although the theme is a downer there are flashes of comedy (the brash Joe is out of his depth when an older girl puts the make on him). The performances are fine and the movie is well worth seeing.

"Joe the King" was described as a semi-autobiographical work by Frank Whaley. That's why I was surprised when I heard the DVD commentary, and Whaley didn't mention anything relating to his own childhood. No "this character is based on..." or "this scene was based the time when I..." But maybe he just didn't feel like revealing that information. Because the kind of pain the main character experiences throughout the story must be at least somewhat genuine. It must've been drawn from some sort of real-life experiences. I'm often a sucker for movies like "This Boy's Life" and "A Bronx Tale," about young ones growing up with troubled childhoods. So I expected to embrace this film. At first I found the movie highly compelling. After a while, I began to lose my emotional connection with the characters. That's when I realized that the drama in the film is pretty much one-sided. I think Roger Ebert hit the nail right on the head when he said, and I'm paraphrasing, "The movie is so steeped in resentment that we never get a chance to see this child behind his shield of misery." We never get a sense of his hopes and dreams, and what he does to try to overcome these unfortunate incidents. I didn't have a troubled childhood, so I'm not speaking from experience, but the boy should've found some sort of salvation. Maybe through books, maybe through music. What I gathered was he was fascinated by blues music, but the music itself wasn't his salvation. Every adult character seems to be portrayed as an out-and-out heavy. There are a few scenes where the father and mother display subtle hints of emotion, though there certainly could've been more, but the rest of the characters are as evil as comic book villains. Even the local pawnbroker seems to have it out for Joe. I'm sure one of the elders treated him nice at least a few times in his life. One of the most heavy-handed scenes is when the teacher asks Joe to tell the class the occupations of his parents. His father is the school janitor, so naturally he doesn't want it to be revealed. The teacher torments him until he finally reveals it. When he does, a girl in class laughs at him and he rightfully throws a pencil at her head. The teacher calls him to the front of the class, pulls down his pants and paddles his rear end. Now, what public school on earth has teachers who are allowed to abuse their students like that? I know in other countries they still do that, but not in America. In real life, Joe could've ran to the principal's office to report the abuse and they would've dragged that teacher out the school. This is an example of Whaley trying too hard to gain the audience's sympathy. The performances are good for the most part. Val Kilmer does a fine acting job and shows that if he weren't so damn difficult to deal with, he'd have a lot more parts. The only performance I must criticize is that of Noah Fleiss. He's definitely not a bad actor, and you can do much worse in the child actor department, but he's only OK. He doesn't display a large range of emotions like, say, Haley Joel Osment. And that's not good since the film centers on Fleiss and he is the glue who holds the film together. And I also must establish that it's never revealed why the character is given the nickname "Joe the King." This is not a bad film, and it is compelling to a degree, but if Whaley paid more attention to the mechanics of the narrative, it could've been a lot more powerful, like "This Boy's Life" or "A Bronx Tale." My score: 6 (out of 10)

The story of a bad luck boy. An insensitive mother, a drunken father, a well-meaning but incompetent counselor, Joe has nothing going for him but his own sense of decency. The movie follows him as he gets battered by one event after another. Finally he goes wrong, but he doesn't go bad. When that door clangs shut behind him at the end of the movie, you can sense that he will walk out a strong young man.The plot is tight, the acting is excellent, the camera work is beautiful. There is an outstanding cast, but the film is carried by young Noah Fliess as Joe. It is a shame that young actors often do not get the credit they deserve for their effort.Unless Vin Diesel is your favorite actor, see this movie!