Have you noticed how many orphans there are in movies lately?
"Bogus" is about an orphaned boy sent off to be adopted by Whoopie
Goldberg. But her maternal instincts were canned somewhere on the way to
superstardom. Somehow there's no prospect of deep affection, even with
the kid's invisible friend "Bogus" hanging out giving wise advice
from the sidelines.
Gerard Depardieu is just too in the room to make it as an "imaginary
friend." Given the irresistible twinkle in his eye, he surely hangs
out in lots of people's imaginations - without, however, yielding family
fare.)
The essential problem with the movie is this orphan business. The story
never escapes its essential sadness, because it gives us a healthy prologue
full of the boy's charming, wonderful, warm mom - a circus performer with
a magic act in Vegas. The movie takes forever to get back on its feet after
she gets killed. The film tries to compensate with imaginative magical
sequences, but these are more about special effects than about a child's
emotional life.
This bittersweet little romp through the never-never land of a child's adjustment
to life without Mommy has the problem that any nice little film has when
it is overwhelmed by two mammoth stars. The most entertaining moment in
it is supposed to be a show-stopping number with Whoopie playing Ginger
to Depardieu's Fred - which has little or nothing to do with the story and
is definitely more bogus than it should be.
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