Inception

Saw the movie Inception last night. It was thoroughly entertaining. Loved seeing the cutie from Third Rock from the Sun, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I couldn’t place him until I looked him up on IMBD, he’s grown up so much. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him. And Lucas Haas–remember him and those big doe-y eyes from Witness? I hope this role gets him casted more, as well.

Oh my, I sound like one of those old biddies I used to run while with a grandmother. “Oh, I remember you when you were this big.”

Sigh.

I was sad to see, though, that the immense talent of Ellen Page was poorly cast in this movie. She did a great job, don’t get me wrong. I just am not convinced a character her age would be as insightful as she was. The character either needed more development, or should have been casted with someone older. Or older-looking (what gorgeous skin she has!).

I only bring it up because there was something about the movie that jarred me that I couldn’t put my finger on until today. Yes, there were holes in the plot, but I decided not to think too hard about them because the premise and special effects were awesome, and the plot was much better developed than some other action flicks. Why I couldn’t ignore the age of one character . . . upon whose wisdom the resolution of the story depended . . .

Perhaps the production team assumed that all females carry such deep understanding, no matter their age. Maybe it’s some sort of compliment (sort of like the offhanded compliment Oprah commented on years ago about how black women are cast as if black women don’t age). . .

Even as a kid, there was something that always bothered me about these psychologically savant children. “Out of the mouth of babes” is one thing if used sparingly, but when they are spewing a whole psychology dissertation–it just makes me crabby. Neil Simon’s child character in The Good-by Girl drove me nuts when I first saw the movie back in high school. Yeah, maybe the intention was for the child to play the Fool, the Court Jester whose innocent comments shake the world around her. But overdone, I see the art as lost and the child becomes a lazy person’s tool to cut to the punch.

Snore.

I do note with great humility that apparently, my tastes run counter to the rest of the population when you take into account the popularity of Neil Simon. What right do I have to call a successful writer lazy? I’m not saying he is wrong or a bad writer. . .

I suppose my opinion is tainted by having been a child who was expected to act older than her years her whole life. Way back, I probably identified with Neil Simon’s child characters. Except I didn’t have their wisdom. They got through their ordeals with exuberance. I barely crawled. I was jealous.

“Children adapt,” Mom told me once when I was in my thirties.

“Yeah, but, who’s the adult?” I responded.

Not that Ellen Page’s character in Inception was a child. I assumed she was somewhere between eighteen and early twenties, a brilliant pupil studying architecture in France. But for me, there were too many questions about her psychology that I could have ignored had she appeared to be someone with a little more life experience behind her. That said, I totally understand why the actress took the part. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that cast in a blockbuster movie alongside Leonardo DiCaprio? She was smart.

Perhaps beyond her years.