From a parent's point of view the hardest things in their children's lives are learning to walk, talk or any number of other challenges that initially seem impossible for them to do. For kids, such obstacles aren't a big deal since they don't know any better at the time and aren't worried about how they'll be seen should they not be successful at their latest endeavor.
In that sense, the hardest time is during adolescence when those kids try to transition from childhood to adulthood and where peer and societal pressure seem to put kids and their parents at extreme opposite ends of any spectrum. It's during this time that kids become rebels, troublemakers or outright delinquents.
Imagine then, facing all of the standard trials and tribulations of that period in life and then having all of that intensified by a distant and egotistical biological father, a sister who's fled across the country, and an alcoholic mother who's gone the opposite direction across the Atlantic. To top if off, add a stepfather who's just announced that the time is right for him to become a woman.
While that sounds like an interesting, comedic twist on the old John Hughes teen angst comedies (particularly since this one also takes place in Hughes' old stomping grounds of the '80s), it never really develops to any worthwhile extent in Tod Williams' writing and directorial debut, "The Adventures of Sebastian Cole." About as haphazard and disjointed a movie as I've seen in a long time, the title might as well have been "The Boring and Episodic Occurrences of a Troubled Youth."
With individual scenes appearing out of nowhere and then disappearing just as fast -- with no apparent connection to any others beyond the basic premise of Sebastian sowing his wild oats -- and being set in the 80s for no good reason other than to give Sebastian a new wave/punk look and to include some vintage soundtrack songs, the film is mildly compelling at first, but then proceeds to become progressively more irritating as the "story" unfolds.
About the only thing that maintains one's interest in the proceedings is Clark Gregg's portrayal of the title character's stepfather who becomes a transvestite while awaiting a final sex change operation. Clearly reminiscent of John Lithgow and his character, Robert Muldoon in "The World According to Garp" -- since both play such characters more "realistically" and not as flamboyant drag queens -- such material offers the film's only fleeting moments of compelling material or true humor.
Beyond that, we see Cole hanging out with his buddies or sister's ex-boyfriend, participating in some hanky panky with a local girl, or dealing with various school-related issues. None of the scenes are particularly intriguing -- which isn't helped at all by their episodic nature -- and after a while the viewer is resigned to the fact that nothing's going to come of any of this.
While the intro and concluding bookend scenes -- where Sebastian gets into a bloody car wreck and is treated by a lovely Latino lass -- are supposed to intrigue us, that worn out "mystery" ploy -- that's supposed to make us wonder what led up to that opening -- falls completely flat here and similarly doesn't amount to anything in the end.
Even the "shocking" finale comes off as nothing more than a cheap ploy to elicit some sort of emotional response from the audience, but by then the plot's episodic nature and the fact that we don't really care about any of the characters makes the effort a moot point.
That's despite the fact that some of the performances are actually quite good. As the title character, relative newcomer Adrian Grenier ("Celebrity") delivers a believable and true take on a troubled, but devil-may-care teen. Inhabiting a role that would have gone to the likes of Ralph "The Karate Kid" Macchio had the film been made during its setting, Grenier creates a realistic character, thus enabling the audience to sympathize with his "growing pains."
Of course, Clark Gregg's gender-bender performance will draw the most attention, particularly since his heavy masculine features mean he's the ugliest woman this side of Milton Berle who similarly donned a dress and pantyhose all those years ago. Instead of playing the character as a flaming drag queen, Gregg (who had bit parts in "The Spanish Prisoner," "The Usual Suspects") has the character's daily life go on as usual. Thus, the contrast between his looks and behavior give the moments with him an amusing feel.
It's not difficult to realize, however, that the entire transsexual/sex change bit is nothing more than a gimmick and never amounts to much more than a catalyst to jumpstart the overall plot into motion. Beyond those two key characters, the supporting performances are okay, but are only sporadically present and thus don't amount to much.
Although the film has a few funny or amusing moments -- including a conservative grandfather's reaction to transvestism and Sebastian faking karate skills to pass his P.E. requirements -- its overall episodic nature -- while somewhat true to the randomness of adolescence -- doesn't make for that compelling or interesting of a time at the movies. Thus, we give "The Adventures of Sebastian Cole" just a 3 out of 10.
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