Stacy Allen
Secondhand Lions is a fun, adventurous comedy fit for the entire family. Michael Caine and Robert Duvall are wonderful actors who stray from their norm in this Tim McCanlies film. Even though the characters and the stories they tell are completely unbelievable, the audience will fall in love with the idea of believing in them.
Duvall tells Osment that sometimes you have to have faith in things that you know aren’t realistic. The idea is that it is more fun for us to believe good will triumph over evil and that true love exists and will live forever. Whenever you think about this it makes a lot of sense.
Why do we love going to movies that we know what’s going to happen in the end? We know that the self-made millionaire will fall in love with the down-to-earth housemaid and they’ll get married and live happily ever after. We love these movies because it’s easier for us to watch them and believe that could happen to us than to live in reality and get walked on.
Duvall and Caine shine as the two old uncles who may or may not have led exciting lives in Africa. Osment I am still unsure about. I thought he did a good job in the Sixth Sense but I think that was more the material than the acting. However, I really don’t know how to judge child stars. Some I think will make it and they never make another picture, others I think will fail and they succeed. I was discussing this subject the other day and brought up Drew Barrymore. Look at her in E.T and look at her now. I would have never guessed she’d grow up to be as huge a star as she is.
I loved the movie’s acting and the material. The humor was great. I found myself laughing at the slight one liners thrown in that may or may not be funny to everyone in the audience. These are always great when you are the only one laughing — it makes me feel like I am a part of an inside joke. I thoroughly enjoyed Secondhand Lions and would eagerly see it again.
Stacy Allen is a student at Eastern New Mexico University.
