Bogus

Bomb Rating: 

While (director Norman) Jewison is spouting off about the importance of imagination, he's torturing us with his own, which mostly involves people dancing in fog.

Norman Jewison has got something to say about imagination and itgoes something like this: "Duh, imagination is really important to a healthy life. Without it, people becomes stale, like bread left on top of the refrigerator too long."

The problem with his film "Bogus," about a boy who dreams up an imaginary friend after his mother dies, is that while Jewison is spouting off about the importance of imagination, he's torturing us with his own, which mostly involves people dancing in fog. People dancing in fog? For Christ's sake, is it a Hollywood ordinance that every movie with a dream sequence feature somebody dancing in fog or walking in fog or just doing something in a general haze? If I knew for a fact that my only escape from reality was Jewison's blurry vision of imagination, I'd have impaled myself on the sharp cup holder on the end of my theater seat and avoided the rest of my life.

Furthermore, why does the manifestation of dreamland have to be Gerard Depardieu? Sure, the kid's hero is a French magician, but is it really necessary to imagine someone who speaks English like he's underwater?

And who exactly is this film's intended audience? The star is a little seven-year-old whose mother gets run over by a truck, a real draw for the pre-adolescent set. But what about adults? As Norman's fog rolls by they'll probably be thinking about another eight-to-five day of envelope licking or toilet scrubbing. Undoubtedly, most of them will have no trouble imagining where Norman can stick his self-indulgent fantasy life.

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