Fun Size
Director: Josh Schwartz
Actors: Johnny Knoxville
Release Date: Monday 30th November -0001
Genre(s): Factual
Running time: 85 minutes
Teen comedy Fun Size has all the hallmarks of its Nickelodeon origins: it's short, it can be sweet and it can be comfortably derivative. What makes one uncomfortable, however, are sex jokes in a 12A movie.
Wren (Justice) is looking forward to the greatest night of her life: she's just been invited to the school hunk's Halloween party by the Corvette driving school hunk himself and it's going to be, like, epic. However, mum Joy (Chelsea Handler) has a date that night and Wren has no choice but to lug her kid brother Albert (Nicoll), mute since their dad died last year, along. When Albert goes missing, Wren employs the help of two nerds - among them Thomas Mann - to trek the streets in the search for him, all the while worrying if the school hunk is going to cop off with someone else.
The shenanigans are never intended to be taken seriously, which is fine, but the high note this comedy is played at diminishes the big moments the drama relies on by the end. Confessing to your parents that you've crashed the family car or lost your kid brother should be huge drama but the 'give a hoot' register doesn't even twitch. Fun Size (the title we can assume is a reference to the trick-or-treat candy on offer) drums up the odd comedy moment - the three pre-teen ninjas on a night of revenge, being caught in traffic on 'the cool strip' with You Raise Me Up stuck at a high volume - but most fall flat.
What's worrying, though, are sex gags in a movie aimed at such a young audience. A mechanical chicken from a fast food restaurant falls on the hood of a car in an awkward fashion so it looks like it's humping it. A deal is made where one guy gets to touch Jane Levy's breasts… and she doesn't renege; maybe staying true to your word is the message here, which is nice, we guess.
The ending is sweet and the soundtrack isn't bad but Fun Size doesn't have any gags or drama to consider it a success.
