There are some comedies that you can’t help but love, and there are others that you can enjoy despite your better judgement. Harold fits into the latter.

Spencer Breslin stars as a 13-year-old kid suffering from male pattern baldness. But rather than rebel against his predicament, he embraces it. Now, I don’t mean to suggest that he loves his bald head. Rather, he’s modeled his life around his look – he’s a mini version of an old man, one concerned with regularity who watches Murder She Wrote. Luckily, this has worked for Harold in his small town, where’s he has crafted an odd but enjoyable life for himself.

But then his mother (Ally Sheedy) informs him and his cute and popular sister that they’re all moving to another town. His comfort and camaraderie are stripped away, and Harold has to start from scratch. While sis blends in perfectly and flawlessly, with cheerleading, friends, and boys, Harold struggles.

He’s thrust into a school of cliché – the mean gym teacher who loves dodgeball, the bully, the cute girl he has a crush on, the plight for beer, and the outcasts. His lone reprieve is a nice janitor (Cuba Gooding Jr.) who does his best to help Harold acclimate to his new surroundings and save the kid from at least some of the torment that faces him.

Now I could spend a lot of time outlining the film’s foibles, which mainly lie in the emphasis on technique rather than storytelling. It’s like grabbing an idea, knowing what outcome you want, and just plugging in scenarios to make it happen, rather than letting the characters move through the story in a natural way. It’s connect the clichéd dots rather than a smooth spiral to the central peak and conclusion.

 

Yet still, Harold is charming. There are laughs to be had, and silliness to enjoy. Critically, I could pull out a number of inconsistencies and mistakes, but they did not effect the overall outcome for me – I enjoyed the movie. It’s easy to watch, and it has its moments, making it the sort of comedy you want in a group – one where you can have some drinks, joke and laugh, and have fun.

 

Unfortunately, I wish I could say the same for the DVD offerings. The disc is almost completely bare, which gives the feeling that City Lights didn’t have much hope for their follicly challenged film. The lone feature is a home-video sort of look at opening night, where some of the cast and crew briefly talk about the movie, and some of the attendees get to share their reactions to the film. There’s nothing else – no bloopers, deleted scenes, or anything else.

All in all, Harold is the sort of film you rent with a group looking for some light laughs without a big commitment of attention. Don’t expect much, have fun, and wonder how long it will be before Spencer Breslin and Michael Cera get cast as brothers.