I was not looking forward to seeing Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Most of this disdain came from the title, which is obnoxiously long. I had no idea what the film was about, who was in it, or who made it. So, I guess, it was just the title, and the fact that it was a children’s film. Live-action children’s films are typically nightmares, talking down to kids in a way I find rather offensive. Before walking into the theater, I found out Steve Carell was in it, which made my heart sink even lower. I thought I would brave through the film’s thankfully short 81 minute running time, write up a terrible review, and get on with my life. To my surprise, Alexander and the Negative Adjectives Day has a few charms that made me smile and even laugh.
Alexander (Ed Oxenbould), who for some reason has an obsession with Australia, has a knack for having very bad days. On the day before his ever-so-important twelfth birthday, he gets gum in his hair, gets the news the cool kid in school is having his birthday party the same day as him, has his face photoshopped on bikini pictures (which get shared around the school), and sets the notes of the girl he likes on fire. And what could make it even worse? The rest of his family is riding a wave of rainbows and unicorns, figuratively speaking.
However, things start to turn backwards after Alexander makes a birthday wish that his family would experience a bad day, and, you’ll never believe this, it comes true. That is when the wacky shenanigans start. Things start small. His brother (Dylan Minnette) gets a rather large zit on the day of his prom, and his mother (Jennifer Garner) wakes up late for an important day at work. From there, things spiral outward to crazier lengths. Now, this being a PG Disney movie, the shenanigans cannot get too wild, but for the restrictions placed on them, they have some fun and kept my interest, mostly.
The first big set piece of wackiness did not work for me at all. It involves a reading of a new children’s potty training book that Garner’s company is publishing. The joke of the entire scenario is that the word “jump”, which appears on every page of the book, is misprinted as “dump”. If you do not understand why that is supposed to be funny, “dump” in a potty training book is a tad graphic for toddlers. Get it now? Huh? They try to sell it by having Dick Van Dyke do the reading, who can usually make anything charming, but the whole scene falls flat.
Thankfully, things pick up from there. The brother trying to keep his bitch of a girlfriend (Bella Thorne) is rather amusing. Carell’s video game developer job interview with a baby in tow is good for a couple of laughs. Having Donald Glover play opposite him certainly does not hurt. Alexander’s sister (Kerris Dorsey) drinking an absurd amount of cough syrup in order to perform the title role in her school production of Peter Pan works surprisingly well.
Where the film does go horribly wrong is in the scenes between the antics. It comes to a screeching halt when after a bad thing happens, the family has to assure one another that they still love each other and will be behind them no matter what. As a message, that is a fairly routine one and not one I have a particular issue with, but when every ten minutes Alexander or his dad has to make a big speech about familial love and taking the bad to appreciate the good, the pace of the film slacks and becomes really grating.
A segmented film like this depends heavily on the strength of its cast, and this one has a particularly impressive one. We are all familiar with the comic talents of Steve Carell, but young actors Minnette and Dorsey impressed me greatly. Minnette is the cause of my favorite gag in the film, involving a trophy case, whose reaction is rather perfect. Dorsey is a lot of fun when she is out-of-her-mind high on cough syrup, singing and flying on wires. Bella Thorne (did I mention her character is a real bitch?) is a worthy scene partner to bounce the jokes off of.
Obviously, this film is not going to break any new ground. It has some fairly amusing set pieces, a talented, likable cast, and had me laughing a few times throughout. This is not going to become some family film classic or one I will even want to rewatch, but for its short running time, I did not hate myself for watching it. The end result is actually something kind of fun. Also, if you are wondering whether or not the phrase “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day” is said in the film, don’t worry. It is. Twice.
