Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made
2020
**
Director: Tom McCarthy
Cast: Winslow Fegley, Ophelia Lovibond, Craig Robinson, Wallace Shawn, Kyle Bornheimer, Ai-Chan Carrier, Chloe Coleman, Kei, Caitlin Weierhauser
11-year-old Timmy Failure and his mom live in Portland. Instead of focusing on school work, Timmy runs a detective agency with Total, his imaginary polar bear. Tom McCarthy's previous film, Spotlight, was a brilliant grown-up drama. This follow-up seems like a potentially entertaining family movie, but ultimately it has very little to offer to both parents and children. The detective agency turns out to be a metaphor rather than a plot device, and Timmy is a less than sympathetic protagonist. On the one hand, he is a true original who refuses to fit to the norm (his catchphrase is "normal is for normal people"). On the other hand, he is a rude, uncompassionate, and delusional little brat. Or he has high functioning autism, which is never clearly stated. Based on a novel by Stephan Pastis.
