Roger Ebert's review
Roger Ebert gave The Good Son one-half star and condemned its use of child performers and its ending; the panel finds his moral reaction understandable but too dismissive of the craft.
In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:50Read transcript
- Ebert is described as hating the film with unusual intensity and questioning what Macaulay Culkin’s parents were thinking.
- The panel argues that Ebert often let moral revulsion toward slashers, juvenile comedy, and mean-spirited films outweigh craft.
- The episode states that Ebert awarded one-half star, described as unprecedented across roughly 440 covered movies.
- Siskel is kept distinct: his objections focus on plot logic around Mr. Highway and the absent investigation.
- Ebert asks who would want to see the film and calls it creepy and unpleasant because very young children enact horrible behavior.
- Ebert proposes the alternate title Henry: Portrait of a Future Serial Killer.
- Ebert calls the cliff climax unconvincing, contrived, meretricious, and manipulative; the panel rejects the severity of that judgment.