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Special

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Special (2008)

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Reviews Counted:29

Fresh:16

Rotten:13

Average Rating:5.6/10

Consensus: This quirky indie comedy's low budget is readily apparent, but it's elevated by Michael Rapaport's dedicated performance.

Runtime: 82 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: Les Franken (MICHAEL RAPAPORT) is a kind-hearted and soft-spoken man who loves reading comic books. He’s the type of guy who most people walk by on the street without even noticing; in essence,... Les Franken (MICHAEL RAPAPORT) is a kind-hearted and soft-spoken man who loves reading comic books. He’s the type of guy who most people walk by on the street without even noticing; in essence, he’s completely average and virtually invisible.

However, everything changes for Les the day he is accepted into an experimental drug study for a new and exciting anti-depressant, Specioprin Hydrochloride. As Les begins to take the drugs an unexpected side effect occurs – he begins to develop special powers: the ability to levitate, to read peoples’ minds, and even walk through walls.

Faced with the dilemma of how best to utilize his new “powers,” the answer seems obvious to Les. He puts together a homemade superhero suit and hits the streets to fight crime and protect the world from the forces of evil.

Surveillance video soon exposes Les and his actions to the public via television news and therefore brings him to the attention of the businessmen developing the drug. Worried about the bad publicity Les is bringing to their new anti-depressant, they attempt to put an end to his superhero antics before too much damage is done. However, in typical comic book fashion, Les sees the men from the drug company as his evil arch nemeses – “The Suits”— men who want him to join them in their evil plan to use ‘Special’ to create an army of unstoppable assassins. Les refuses to play ball. --© Magnolia Pictures [More]

Starring: Michael Rapaport, Paul Blackthorne, Josh Peck, Robert Baker

Starring: Michael Rapaport, Paul Blackthorne, Josh Peck, Robert Baker, Jack Kehler, Alexandra Holden, Ian Bohen, Christopher Darga

Director: Hal Haberman, Jeremy Passmore

Director: Hal Haberman, Jeremy Passmore
Screenwriter: Hal Haberman, Jeremy Passmore
Producer: Edward Parks, Frank Mele
Composer: Tom Wolfe, Manish Raval
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

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Reviews for Special

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Special offers a unique spin on the superhero template but rarely soars beyond its sly premise.

Full Review Source: What Would Toto Watch? | comment Comment
03/31/09
Christian Toto
Christian Toto
What Would Toto Watch?

Eccentric, depressing thriller won't grab teens' attention.

Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | comment Comment
01/27/09
S. Jhoanna Robledo
S. Jhoanna Robledo
Common Sense Media

No review available.

comment Comment
01/03/09
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

Special works as an honest portrait of little people with big dreams even if it remains itself a little movie without a big impact.

Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
11/26/08
Todd Gilchrist
Todd Gilchrist
IGN Movies

I just thought it was a cool indie film with a great leading performance from an actor we don’t usually get to see in a lead.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
11/24/08
Ben Lyons
Ben Lyons
At the Movies

The premise is intriguing, and the film is occasionally amusing, but it feels stuck between a completely satirical farce and an aching drama.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
11/24/08
Ben Mankiewicz
Ben Mankiewicz
At the Movies

The sight of him, bloodied but eternally unbowed, in his ridiculous, homemade superhero costume may indeed be totally iconic for true pulp believers.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
11/21/08
David Noh
David Noh
Film Journal International

Take[s] a page from the cartoonist Bill Watterson, who noted of the tiger protagonist in his great Calvin & Hobbes, 'The nature of [the character's] reality doesn't interest me, and each story goes out of its way to avoid resolving the issue.'

Full Review Source: House Next Door | comment Comment
11/21/08
Keith Uhlich
Keith Uhlich
House Next Door

Rappaport does a yeoman's job in this tonally confused oddity.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
11/21/08
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

It may not be perfect, but this under-the-radar indie from Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore is smart enough to leave you glad you found it.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
11/21/08
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

Ultimately it adds little to our understanding of the curious return of the superhero as our paradigmatic pop archetype.

comment Comment
11/21/08
Nathan Lee
Nathan Lee
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Shot for pennies -- a cash limitation that benefits the production's creativity and credibility -- this haunting film keeps shifting the ground under our feet

Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
11/21/08
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly

A beautiful metaphor for the desperate need to be important in a world where we rarely make personal connections any more, Special deserves to be seen.

Full Review Source: UGO | comment Comment
11/21/08
Jenna Busch
Jenna Busch
UGO

What begins as a mildly amusing indie lark descends into a depressingly unappealing exercise in mico-budget filmmaking.

Full Review Source: Metromix.com | comment Comment
11/21/08
Geoff Berkshire
Geoff Berkshire
Metromix.com

Its ambitions are limited -- though at 81 minutes, wisely proportioned -- but its heart is in the right place.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
11/20/08
Scott Tobias
Scott Tobias
AV Club

A great genre film dissects authentic problems without attempting to supplant them. Reasonably enough, Special belongs to that category with the rest of Magnet’s Six Shooter Series.

Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
11/20/08
Eric Kohn
Eric Kohn
New York Press

Special is an inexplicable downer that favors pathos over satire.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
11/20/08
Mark Holcomb
Mark Holcomb
Time Out New York

Thanks to Rapaport's brio in embracing the hero's drug-induced delusions, the movie is less a failure than a noble experiment gone awry.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
11/20/08
Adam Markovitz
Adam Markovitz
Entertainment Weekly

Rappaport's befuddled sincerity has never registered so poignantly, but given its singular premise, for the film to waste an easy opportunity to satirize vigilante do-goodery and pharmaceutical dependence is, well, villainous.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
11/19/08
Aaron Hillis
Aaron Hillis
Village Voice

This fantasy battle between good and evil is merely a cute, minor idea with little depth and even less conscious purpose, fit for a 15-minute short rather than a feature-length narrative.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
11/16/08
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Special

November 27, 2008: Prankster moviemaking about a superhero duel with p-harm-aceutical barons, certain to make the deadly warnings whispered in all those gleeful drug commercials flooding TV sets across America, to never sound quite the same again. Opens in new window
More...

November 14, 2008: Prankster moviemaking about a superhero duel with p-harm-aceutical barons, certain to make the deadly warnings whispered in all those gleeful drug commercials flooding TV sets across America, to never sound quite the same again. Opens in new window
More...

November 03, 2008: Trailer & Poster review Opens in new window
More...

January 26, 2006: SUNDANCE: Weinberg's Sundance Scorecard
With Senh, Jen, and Terrible Tim Ryan roaming the streets of Park City, the Tomato readers have had plenty of Sundance reports to pick through. But I thought I'd contribute my... More...

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