A 2007 American comedy-drama directed by Menno Meyjes starring John Cusack as a writer who adopts a young boy (Bobby Coleman) who thinks that he is from Mars.
The film also stars Amanda Peet, Sophie Okonedo, Oliver Platt, Joan Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and Richard Schiff.
The movie was released on November 2, 2007.
Tropes for the film:
- Adaptational Sexuality: The character played by John Cusack was gay in the original 1994 book.
- Daydream Believer: The film has a dark spin on this; the eponymous kid is a a Daydream Believer as a coping mechanism for his social awkwardness. It chronicles his adoptive father's struggles with the son's delusion that he's really from Mars and his "real parents" will come pick him up any day now.
- Department of Child Disservices: Social Services seriously considers taking Dennis away from what is probably the first supportive adult influence he's had in his entire life. Their reasoning? He's taking more than a month or two to just get over his social awkwardness and the extraordinary coping methods he developed to deal with severe abuse and neglect.
- The Film of the Book: The movie is based on David Gerrold's 1994 book of the same name.
