# Bored Silly (1999)

### reviewed by
James Sanford

The makers of "Bored Silly" would probably describe their creation as good, clean fun.

In truth, they only got the "clean" part right. Wholesome as a glass of milk and almost as exciting to watch, this extremely low-budget comedy at least has the courtesy to carry a title that warns potential viewers exactly what to expect.

"Bored Silly" strings together a collection of fuzzily photographed and seemingly improvised sequences, slaps kooky songs such as "I Really, Really, Really Like Girls" on the soundtrack, and calls itself a movie. Perhaps writer-director Robert Shallcross had an idea to make a modern-day version of the "Our Gang" comedies (popularly known today as "The Little Rascals"), but he seems to have overlooked the fact that those films were short subjects. In fact, when producer Hal Roach attempted to move "Our Gang" into features with the 1936 film "General Spanky," the public resisted the concept and Roach never tried it again.

"General Spanky," however, was much better than "Bored Silly," which follows three 8-year-olds (Evan Gabriel, Seth Fjersted and Shaun Poremba) as they try to build a fort, go fishing, make enough money to buy some ice cream, get revenge on a neighborhood bully and spy on the mysterious junk man, who reputedly chopped up six kids. The schedule may sound hectic, but the movie meanders pointlessly from one anecdote to the next, pausing often to let us watch our heroes stroll down the street or plod through a field.

The boys also engage in a lot of Macaulay Culkin-style screaming and frequently are called upon to laugh uproariously at their own zany antics. Oh yeah, there's also no shortage of whining, in case listening to whiny children is your idea of a solid afternoon of entertainment.

After about 90 minutes and before the plot's loose ends can be tied up, "Bored Silly" comes to a screeching halt, almost as if Shallcross ran out of money before he could shoot a suitable finale. So few viewers are likely to make it to the end of the movie, however, it's unlikely there will be many complaints. James Sanford

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