Here we have one of those 60s movies that is wildly self-conscious in its attempt to capture the spirit of a New Generation. You're a Big Boy Now veers from in-your-face whimsy to overheated wackiness, with non-sequitur jokes and distracting visual effects crammed in at every opportunity. "We're HIP, damn it! Just look at how wild and crazy and free-spirited we are, 'cause it's a new era! Wow!," the movie screams at us. Needless to say, these movies have not dated well; all of that forced exuberance and zaniness leaves the modern viewer with a bad headache.
There's certainly lots of talent on hand; the writer/director is Francis Ford Coppola (this was his film school master's thesis), and the cast includes Elizabeth Hartman, Karen Black, Rip Torn, Julie Harris, and our Oscar nominee, Geraldine Page.
Page plays Marjory Chanticleer, the overbearing, protective harpy-mother of the movie's protagonist, 19-year-old Bernard. She's constantly critical of her son (her first words: "Why are you wearing your eyeglasses?") and absurdly possessive, to the point where she thinks she owns him (she demands at one point that Bernard's landlady "please give Bernard back to me immediately!").
It's an adequate performance, and it fits comfortably with the rest of the movie -- that is, Page is just as shrill, unpleasant, and loud as everyone else -- but there's not much to say about it, and it's puzzling to see how it could be an Oscar nominee. Sometimes, a mediocre performance will get nominated as part of a broader sweep for a movie; that's not the case here, as Page's is the only nomination the movie received. Perhaps it was simply that Page was an Oscar favorite; this was her fourth nomination, and her third in six years. Maybe 1966 was just a really weak year for supporting actresses. Whatever the explanation for the nomination, it's the most instantly forgettable nominee I've seen in my Smackdown history.
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