RICHIE RICH. Directed by Donald Petrie; written by Tom S. Parker and Jim Jennewein; produced by Joel Silver and John Davis for Warner Bros. Starring Macaulay Culkin and Jonathan Hyde. Rated PG.
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Richie Rich is a surprisingly witty, mostly entertaining version of the old story—poor little rich kid with a heart of gold.
But Richie (Culkin) isn't just rich. His family is wealthy beyond imagining (and, to quote Han Solo, "I can imagine quite a lot!"). The estate he lives on is the size of a small country, and the technical gadgetry he can call upon for work or play (largely provided by his own private genius inventor) is mind-boggling.
This is the kind of stuff that kids just eat up. But the surprise is that it's enjoyable, at least for the most part, for their parents as well.
The movie's plot is silly, contrived and predictable: Richie is lonely and yearns to play ball in a vacant lot with some kids he sees. A sneaky Rich underling plots to steal the Rich fortune by rubbing out the Riches. Then he's thwarted, of course, by Richie and his new friends.
John Larroquette overacts the villain's part shamelessly. And the romantic (?) pairing of Richie's valet Cadbury (Hyde) and the mother of one of the ballplayers is 'way too pat.
But other little bits of business thrown in along the way work much better and pull Richie Rich, occasionally anyway, up to another level of comedy.
For example, Richie goes to an opulent school for young CEO's in training. But boys will be boys, and such typical schoolday practices as passing notes in class occur here, too. Here, however, the notes are faxed from one kid's mahogany desk to another. And, for the movie's climax, there's a wild parody of the final excitement in Hitchcock's North by Northwest, of all things.
Another plus is Cadbury, who has been Richie's personal valet since birth. The part is written quite cleverly as a stuffed shirt (again, though, with that heart of gold) who is nonetheless devoted to his charge. And Hyde carries it off perfectly. Richie's parents (Edward Herrmann and Christine Ebersole) are also delightful as perfect rich people—virtuous, generous, responsible and eccentric.
In short, if your kids having been bugging you to take them to Richie Rich, relax—it won't be as bad as you think.
January 18, 1995