Movie Review

Secondhand Lions (PG)

Robert Sims

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Hollywood.com Says
Sullen teen Haley Joel Osment is forced to spend the summer with his grumpy old uncles Michael Caine and Robert Duvall. But life on their rundown Texas farm is anything but dull, especially after the eccentric geezers decide to make a man out of their nervous nephew.

Story

Fourteen-year-old Walter (Osment) is all but dumped on his uncles' rickety porch by his opportunistic mom (Kyra Sedgwick). It's just for the summer, she promises Garth (Caine) and Hub McCaan (Duvall), but she has a habit of disappearing for months on end. "Last thing we need is some sissy boy hanging around," grouses Garth. But Walter is family, so the uncles reluctantly take him in. Walter isn't jumping for joy. The uncles live on a farm without a TV or a phone. Worse, Garth and Hub pass the time shooting at salesmen. See, everyone wants a piece of their vast fortune, and everyone has a theory as to how they made their money. Are they ex-Mafia hit men? Bank robbers? Legionnaires who stole 10,000 gold pieces from an Arabian sheik? That's the explanation given by Garth, who mesmerizes Walter with tales of his and Hub's North African antics. Walter isn't interested in the loot, but he urges his uncles to drop their shoot-first-buy-later policy. So the uncles go on a spending spree--snapping up everything from a biplane to a retired circus lion--as a means to recapture their glory days. Along the way Hub and Garth learn to enjoy their retirement, Walter gains the loving family he never had, and the trio forms a lifelong bond. Writer/director Tim McCanlies (Dancer, Texas pop. 81) doesn't offer many surprises, but he does a grand job of convincing us that these strange seniors need Walter as much as he needs them. He treats the uncles with respect and refuses to make them betray the essence of their traits and beliefs. He also doesn't rush Walter's transformation from gawky teen to strong young man. Walter must endure the growing pains that distinguish that period of life, but it makes him more prepared for the challenges of adulthood.

Acting

They may portray yesterday's heroes afraid of growing gray and useless, but Michael Caine and Robert Duvall are anything but that in their careers. Caine crawled out of made-for-TV purgatory with his Oscar win for The Cider House Rules. Duvall's now enjoying a side career as a director. So both come to Secondhand Lions with the intimate knowledge that life doesn't have to come to a screeching halt when you turn 65. Their presence gives this corny but sincere study in need and purpose a Texas-sized heart and wisdom that only comes with maturity and experience. They certainly do not pass as brothers, but that's besides the point. These seasoned pros go way back, having acted together in the 1977 World War II thriller The Eagle Has Landed. They're comfortable in each other's company, as evidenced by the fraternal bond they so effortlessly create as brothers, warriors and confidantes. Both come across as gruff and distant when their solitude is shattered by Walter's unwelcome arrival. It's Caine's Garth who thaws first after he recognizes that Walter is a kindred spirit. His slow Southern drawl is as colorless as the McCaans' drab den, but he compensates by exuding a warmth and sageness that can calm and inspire an emotionally confused teen. Duvall's unapologetic ally slowly chips away at Hub's stony exterior to reveal a sensitive soul with an enormous capacity for love and understanding. Caine and Duvall are rewarded for proudly flaunting their paternal instincts with a performance by Haley Joel Osment that, while deferential, doesn't border on awestruck. As Walter grows fonder of his uncles, Osment imparts a confidence and swagger that was only hinted at in such post-Sixth Sense offerings as Pay It Forward and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Osment takes a jittery, unappreciated boy and convincingly transforms him into a strong-willed, just young man with the heart of a lion.

Direction

Secondhand Lions ably affirms the importance of family--irrespective of its composition--without relying upon preachy speeches best left for Sunday school. That's not to say director McCanlies isn't partial to the obvious. You know one uncle's going to end up in hospital, that the lion will somehow get out of its cage, and that Walter will find himself torn between his obliging uncles and his selfish mom. The choice isn't too difficult to make. McCanlies doesn't do much to convince us that Kyra Sedgwick's money-hungry floozy has Walter's best interests at heart. Yet he effectively demonstrates that Walter really is better off in his uncles' hands, despite their eccentricities. Secondhand Lions ultimately tries to show that we all possess the capability to lovingly raise a child, no matter how unprepared or ill-suited we believe we are for parenthood. It's also a subtle yet unmistakable endorsement of same-sex parenting--straight or gay--in the guise of boyhood nostalgia. McCanlies puts forth his agenda in a quiet, gentle manner that doesn't hurt the film's family disposition. He keeps the proceedings delightfully cheerful and deliciously kooky, making it a pleasure to spend time with he uncles. And when McCanlies isn't reveling in Hub and Garth's wacky ways, he's treating us to rousing flashbacks that chronicle the uncles' epic journey from North Africa and back. These are executed with all the opulence and panache of costume dramas from the late 1930s. Are Garth's tales of extraordinary courage and devastating loss pure fiction, or enthralling embellishments of the truth? It's as much fun to find out as it is to hear his stories. The same goes for watching Hub and Garth embrace their golden years. These old coots once lived to defy death, so McCanlies keeps us on tenterhooks as they try to fulfill their desire to kick the bucket with their boots on. At the end of the day, it's tough to disagree with Secondhand Lions' philosophy that retirement means slowing down, not rolling over and waiting for the end to come.

Bottom Line

Old age can't tame Michael Caine and Robert Duvall, as this predictable but endearing tale of renewed hopes and youthful aspirations fittingly proves. And young cub Haley Joel Osment takes these legendary lions of the cinema by the mane to confirm he's one of the most intrepid actors of his youthful generation.

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