So … believe it or not, Disney in 2020 did release a wonderful live action film about a precocious inventive youngster based on a series of fantasy books aimed at children. It just isn’t the series you’re thinking of. After Artemis Fouled up my world, I took a cleansing bath in something I’d never heard of: Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. I know screenwriter Stephan Pastis through one of my favorite comic strips, “Pearls Before Swine.” I had no idea he authored children’s books as well. Luckily for me, Disney did.
His name really is Timmy Failure. Timmy (Winslow Fegley) is a humorless 11-year-old Portland resident who fancies himself a detective, but as Nancy Drews go, he’s a “hardly,” boy. The first case we see Timmy take on is solved by the camera, while Timmy –in his standard accusatory mode- has missed several obvious clues.
Timmy has a silent partner for his investigations, a full grown polar bear. To Timmy, the bear is real, and yet it’s clear from classmate reactions, or lack thereof, that Timmy’s bear “Total” is a figment of Timmy’s overactive imagination. Timmy, btw, has added the bear to the marquee, naming his business “Total Failure Inc.” which is adorable, if a tad fatalistic.
Oh, and Timmy is a bigot, too. He continually namedrops “the Russians” in ominous tones. The camera subsequently feels obligated to locate sinister Russians, of which Portland -it seems- has several. So what makes this film so charming? I mean, Timmy is a bit of a monster, isn’t he? Given that Timmy is a humorless, self-involved, semi-competent, frustrated, bigoted sociopath with no sense of any agenda but his own, how in the world is this film worth watching? I mean, given Timmy’s trajectory, we can easily project the young adult version of him as a moronic QAnon troll. I think the key is that Timmy is 11. He’s an eleven-year-old humorless, self-involved, semi-competent, frustrated, bigoted sociopath with no sense of any agenda but his own. We know he can change. We know he will change. And he’s young enough and goofy enough to be entertaining along the way.
Part of the charm of Timmy Failure really lies in “Family Guy” type cutaways in which we the audience get to see Timmy’s overactive imagination in real time. Told a friend is “at fencing class,” Timmy imagines some sort of community college classroom setting with a professor alternatively invoking his well-displayed props in turn: “Picket, Chain Link, Lattice. These are the fences. Any questions?”
Now, honestly, I admit my love of Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is tied to the fact that I saw the film exactly in the wake of the Artemis Fowl disaster. Similarly, years ago, I saw Judge Dredd and Species back-to-back. Judge was so Dreddful that I emerged from Species with: “Wow! What a film! That was a taut thriller! Gonna recommend it to everyone.” But part of it is Timmy Failure really has a great deal of charm. Lord knows I can’t stand adults who ride Segways and take no responsibility, but there’s something truly blissful about a kid who reacts to every single error in judgment with the passive, “mistakes were made.” Sure, if a President denies responsibility, I cannot wait to vote their sorry ass out, but a child capable of change –and change we know is coming because it’s a movie- there’s a bit of the sublime in such deflections. I liked this film a great deal and wish Disney would invest in more of these and fewer Artemis Fowls.
This mystery-solving kid works in vain
A polar bear partner? Insane!
I view this suspect-ly
To solve stuff correctly
You need a perpetually famished Great Dane
Rated PG, 99 Minutes
Director: Tom McCarthy
Writer: Tom McCarthy & Stephan Pastis
Genre: My child is more maladjusted than your child
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Parents with a sense of humor
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Kids without one
