Barry Garron
The Hollywood Reporter, December 13–15, 2002
Review: I Was a Teenage Faust
Call it an unconventional twist on a traditional story. Boy meets girl. Girls meets boy. Boy wants girl so much he sells his soul to the devil, but even that may not be enough. The devil quite literally, is in the details.
In this Showtime Original Picture for All Ages, writer-director Thom Eberhardt gets a little wild and wacky as he demonstrates that, no matter how dorky you think you are, it’s always best to be yourself. It’s a theme that, in and of itself, has all the entertainment value of a quarterly financial report. Eberhardt, however, infuses it with large enough doses of wit and a broad enough comedic style to appear on a couple of levels.
Robert Townsend has a great time stealing on scene after another as Mr. Five, a tempter from hell who hasn’t bartered a soul in about 15 years. Mr. Five blames his territory, central Indiana, but his boss Mephisto (Stuart Margolin), orders him to produce results or face an eternity in flames. Not that anyone else in Hades, given the choice between hell and central Indiana, is eager for the job.
Mr. Five finally finds potential customer in Brendan (Josh Zuckerman), a high school nerd who is in love with gorgeous blond Twyla Day (Caroline Elliott). Brendan trades his soul for the gift of coolness, figuring he could use a 24-hour trial period to win the girl and cancel the deal. Unfortunately, Brendan didn’t read the fine print, and, even more unfortunately, his coolness doesn’t help win the object of his affection.
Townsend is a joy to watch, and Zuckerman, who proves adept at physical comedy, makes Brendan sympathetic enough to maintain our interest. For added sex appeal, there’s Morgan Fairchild as Babylonia, the girlfriend of Mephisto, who’d like nothing better than to show the boss just how inept Mr. Five truly is.
Eberhardt peppers the film with lots of little gags (for example, Brendan’s last name is Willy, and the sign on his house says “The Willy’s”) and pop culture references. There’s even a cameo with Joe Mantegna and self-deprecatory references to the last Showtime film on which both he and Eberhardt teamed. Production values are solid, particularly considering the tight budgets associated with such films. Eberhardt makes effective comedic use of graphics, and Zuckerman’s voice-overs provide essential exposition without intruding on the story.
