Wide Awake

Wide Awake is a children's movie that does not rely on special effects, computer-generated trickery, bathroom humor, slapstick violence or inappropriate adult situations to satisfy its audience. [03 Apr 1998, p.E7]

O'Donnell portrays a hip nun, but the movie is more ponderous than pop. [10 Apr 1998, p.B2]

I left Wide Awake feeling the same way I did after seeing a number of Frank Capra's movies -- I was aware of the problems, but that didn't diminish the warm, fuzzy glow I was experiencing. Read full review

Daring to be low-key and even a little old-fashioned, Wide Awake is a well-intentioned film that steers clear of cheap sentimental miracles and reassuringly holds out a vision of growth and healing measured in small steps. [27 Mar 1998, p.D8]

Unlike many child-driven movies, Shyamalan trusts in the ability of a young audience to handle serious questions. There's also room for some truly funny moments, and a fine performance from Rosie O'Donnell as one of the nuns at Joshua's school. [03 Apr 1998, p.9G]

Wide Awake isn't going to be a box office smash, nor does it have the artistry that would make that fate a crying shame. It's a nice job performed with an interesting idea and a purity that is uncommon. That alone makes the movie worth a look. [03 Apr 1998, p.7]

Wide Awake is a wonderful family film that deals sensitively, and even with humor, with a fairly unusual situation for the screen: a 9-year-old's struggles with his faith in God. [20 Mar 1998, p.F10]

A sweet but overly sober look at a child's coming to spiritual grips with the death of his grandfather, Wide Awake occasionally packs an emotional punch. But a meandering script, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and the candy coating it's wrapped in, undermine its effectiveness. Read full review

Tearful audiences will know they are in safe hands with Shyamalan, and that no matter what happens, at the bottom of each box of tissues is a happy ending with moving narration. [27 Mar 1998, p.F7]

Reflecting the zeitgeist of the last decade, with children increasingly having to come to terms with the untimely deaths of parents and friends as a result of AIDS and other illnesses, Wide Awake tackles its issues with an admirably uncompromising honesty, though it suffers from being dramatically obvious. [16 Mar 1998, p.64]

I wonder who the movie was made for. Smaller kids, I'm afraid, will find it both slow and depressing, especially the parts about why God allows bad things to happen. Read full review

Shyamalan's story is clearly autobiographical, and he imbued the tender tale with a wistful atmosphere as well as a kindly regard for parochial school, hitting some of the details just right. Read full review

Overall, Wide Awake is a sound concept that fell considerably short of its goals. [27 Mar 1998, p.B]

The film pursues its sensitive material with the appropriate degree of care, but the direction by M. Night Shyamalan turns potentially provocative moments into dull eddies of melodrama. Would have made a perfect “After School Special,” however, it barely makes it across the finish line as a feature film. Read full review

The problem with Wide Awake, which was shot by ace cinematographer Adam Holender in rich, autumnal tones, with interiors full of inspirational shafts of light, is that there isn't a genuine moment, or character, in the whole thing. [27 Mar 1998, p.14]

The interest-generating theme of a boy coping with loss is made top-heavy with cuteness, causing it to collapse a quarter of the way through Wide Awake, never to recover. Read full review

Wide Awake imagines it's a seriocomic "coming of age" film radiating waves of healing sweetness and light. But beneath its suffocating, smug sentimentality, you have to look hard to uncover a single moment of truth and genuine feeling. Read full review

Rosie O'Donnell's bracing freshness and genuine likability cut through the cloying stuff every time, but there's nowhere near enough of her to balance things out. Read full review

Indeed, one never doubts that cast and crew went into Wide Awake with anything but the best intentions. Yet, spiritual kiddie flick or not, one knows what the road to hell is paved with. [20 Mar 1998, p.50]

His heart may be in the right place, but 25-year-old writer-director M. Night Shyamalan can't even begin to pull all these episodes together into anything that seems remotely special, or even makes any sense. [03 Apr 1998]

The movie actually makes you long for the rockin’ entertainment value of a good catechism session. Read full review