Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

In 1972, Judith Viorst wrote a book called “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”, which is about a boy who has one bad thing happen after another. It has since been turned into a popular musical and a 1990 animated television special that had some songs put into it. Now Miguel Arteta (“Youth in Revolt,” lots of television) brings “Alexander” to the big screen in an expanded version of the book that is zanier than its source.

The gum in Alexander’s hair is still there (and still how the book starts), as is Alexander’s love of everything Australian and the one bad thing after another storyline from embarrassing pratfalls to bigger disappointments. But Arteta (and screenwriter Rob Lieber) have opened up the book so that Alexander’s bad day becomes a virus throughout his family.

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” is funny and sweet.

Over the next day, a lot of chaos that is captured by Arteta at light speed, going from one disaster to another like his hair is on fire and it all seems very “the best-laid plans of mice and men” Jennifer Garner in Alexander’s terrible, horrible, no good very bad day. Alexander watches the chaos unfold with horror. What has he done? All the actors are completely game for this broad slapstick and these moments of pure emotional terror witness Jennifer Garner screaming at people to get out of her way as she furiously bikes down a sidewalk wearing a power suit and helmet but none more so than Jennifer Garner.

She’s always been an awkward, emotional screwball comedy genius (and I mean that), but there are life and death stakes for her character here, and the results are delightful. Her boss (Megan Mullally) is imperious, sarcastic, unforgiving. Dick Van Dyke has a cameo that is exactly as absurd as you’re imagining right now. Steve Carell brings the anxiety of our times to his role as a man who has to bring his wailing baby along on job interviews and wonders if he will ever find his way again.

But mostly what Bad Day does well what its source material does well is this collective mania thing; this sense that it’s not just Alexander whose day has gotten away from him; not just Alexander who looks around panicked when Steve Carell shows up wearing a pirate shirt with flames shooting off its sleeves; not just Alexander who mutters “I hate/love my family” under his breath so often you can practically set your watch by it: this sort of essential truth about families generally, some days specifically; something Philip Parker would never need Steve Carell to explain: We’ve all had bad days (especially anyone named Philip Parker), we’ll have more of them (see previous parenthetical), and some days it does feel like your entire family’s been dosed with amphetamines (or whatever) and turned into clowns.

“Why is everything awful?” Alexander asks at one point, and Arteta answers him by making everything awful setting the first half of his movie on fire, basically then keeping it there until we all figure out how to laugh at it. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and sometimes those good people are named Steve Carell wearing a pirate shirt.

Collective mania is the best thing Bad Day has going for it; that sense that we’re all in this together; something“Funky Cold Medina” is in the water today. There are moments when the film runs out of steam (the disastrous school play being one), but then something else catches fire, and suddenly Steve Carell is wearing a pirate shirt with his sleeves ablaze, and everyone looks around panicked “What’s happened to our family? Will this day never end?”

The message here is the same as it was in the book: everybody has bad days, they will pass; tomorrow is another day. Things might look bleak; Philip Parker may walk around acting like Fonzie; but usually not always, you should try to be able to laugh about it later. In Arteta’s otherwise smart adaptation of Alexander. It’s not just Alexander who needs that reminder. We all do.

Watch Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day For Free On Gomovies.