Tom Arnold wrote and stars in this heart-on-sleeve "comedy" that will go down in cinema history as one of the most awkward additions ever made to the genre.

| Original Score: D | Jun 15, 2009

Works most poignantly as a testament to a father's love and an unapologetic celebration of Hollywood's m.o.

| Mar 1, 2007

Has straight-to-DVD written all over it.

| Original Score: 1/4 | May 4, 2006

Imagine if Tom Arnold had written "Adaptation." No, really.

Full Review | Dec 15, 2005

With the exception of some weird-on-purpose flicks such as those by Jim Jarmusch and David Lynch, "The Kid & I" is arguably the weirdest movie I've seen since 1987.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 9, 2005

The mesmerizingly awful The Kid & I is a historic first: a comedy about the making of a vanity production that is itself a vanity production.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Dec 6, 2005

It isn't perfect but it is so oddly sincere that I found myself growing a sort of affection for it even as all common sense was telling me to think otherwise.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 6, 2005

It's terribly uneven, it's far too corny and it's really not all that great, but it's so strange and so compelling that you have to see it.

Full Review | Dec 5, 2005

Either the most inept vanity production ever made or the most deadpan satirical prank ever pulled.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Dec 2, 2005

Manages to be cloying, insulting, and self-serving in equally dire measure.

Full Review | Original Score: 0.5/4 | Dec 2, 2005

Tom Arnold does have talent, but some self-defeating streak keeps him from using it.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Dec 2, 2005

What sets The Kid & I apart from most Hollywood comedies is its restraint, on the part of Arnold, both as writer and actor, as well as Spheeris. Comedy actually grows out of character and situation.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 2, 2005

Newcomer Gores is endearing onscreen, but the film built around him is a mess: an amateurish script, a treacly score, barely there direction by Penelope Spheeris and a pointless parade of celebrity cameos.

| Original Score: D | Dec 2, 2005

This wan attempt at inspirational comedy doesn't bother to look closely at anything.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Dec 2, 2005

Despite a sentimental streak a mile wide and a truly worthy theme, Penelope Spheeris' The Kid & I is a truly bad film, an awkward and cringe-worthy effort.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Dec 2, 2005

| Original Score: F | Dec 2, 2005

The greatest mitzvah ever produced by Hollywood... I don't care what's wrong with this thing, you couldn't pay me to badmouth it.

Full Review | Dec 1, 2005

A chore to watch, The Kid and I is self-congratulatory, excruciatingly sentimental and sloppily written and directed.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 1, 2005

A top-shelf director, well-known cast and an upbeat storyline should combine to give the The Kid and I a feel-good ride at the B.O.

Full Review | Dec 1, 2005

Though The Kid & I falters as both a comedy and an After School Special, it works as a rather touching episode of This is Your Life, with a parade of cameos from Arnold's career that'll coax a sniffle or two from his family.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Dec 1, 2005