Fielder's Choice (2005)

Fantastic!

The first must-see film of the year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Excellent movie I actually had a dream lately that there was a follow up to this movie. There should be a sequel I think it would be quite interesting. Here's a good story line Zach is about 15 or 16 , Phillip and Holly are married and are expecting their first baby , Zach then gets to go on a scholarship and this comes between Phillip and Zach so Zach goes on his scholarship then Phillip's head is wrecked with guilt and Holly starts to feel suffocated so as a result Phillip and Holly temporarily separate so she goes to live with one of her relatives then he wins her back and at Christmas Zach comes home, Holly gives birth to a baby girl Zach gets to choose her name and calls her Jill after his late mother and they all live happily ever after.

This Hallmark Channel movie presents Chad Lowe as Philip Fielder, young advertising executive on the rise, a fairhaired boy in the eyes of his boss George Segal. He's also got a not so friendly rival in the agency played by Bodhi Elfman who isn't too squeamish about doing everything possible to demean Lowe in Segal's eyes.Lowe's tense, but well ordered universe is interrupted when his sister dies in a plane crash and he is left with the custody of his autistic nephew, 8 year old Kesun Loder. 8 year olds are hard enough to deal with in any event, but an autistic child obsessed with airplanes and tennis balls could be too much for Lowe. He's got to make Fielder's Choice sooner or later.The best part about Fielder's Choice are the incredibly touching scenes between Chad Lowe and Kesun Loder. Loder will more than likely be a higher functioning adult than Dustin Hoffman became in Rain Man. Still the parenting is a daunting challenge for anyone.Bohdi Elfman will be someone you truly love to hate. He's not above using Loder's autism against Lowe in a most underhanded way.Fielder's Choice is a good heart tugging drama from Hallmark and well worth a look.

For about 9/10ths of this film, I was touched. I don't often say this, but for me, one scene turned this from "somewhat predictable but worth watching" into a film I can't recommend.The film could have made its point without having Fielder put down Segal's character for the choices he has made. The fact Fielder ultimately decided that his nephew should stay with him was clearly the right choice for him, but even when putting that together with the fact Segal's character said what turned out to be exactly the wrong thing to him at exactly the wrong moment, that does not mean that he has the right to criticize others for the choices they have made for themselves. The film is supposedly for families, but that is not a message that I would want children to come away with.If you decide to watch the film, try fast-forwarding through the one scene. You will probably then come away feeling as though your time was well-spent.

Well, K'Sun Ray (what a name!) is so beautifully beguiling that he makes up for a lot of other deficiencies in this film. The plot is formulaic by now -- a work-obsessed relative "inherits" a kid and has to learn to overcome his (or her) own feelings of inadequacy, territoriality and basic hostility, with the outcome being obvious and predictable (and if that's a "spoiler," you spoiled it yourself). Nevertheless, Chad Lowe does a passable job at making us dislike this narcissistic uncle in particular. Unfortunately, K'Sun Ray's character is a RE-actor rather than an actor, except for one instance of his taking initiative and that's quickly thwarted. Moreover, his being 11-y/o playing 8 really shows (there must have been a zillion 8- or 9-y/o actors around who would have died for this part, or at least their mothers would have). I hope he does better in his upcoming movie lead: FIDO. As for this one, the dog gets my award for Best in Show.