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Max Keeble's Big Move
Max Keeble's Big Move is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Tim Hill, written by David L. Watts, James Greer, Jonathan Bernstein and Mark Blackwell and starring Alex D. Linz, Larry Miller, Jamie Kennedy, Nora Dunn, and Robert Carradine. The plot follows the eponymous Max and his friends, who begin going to junior high school only to learn Max and his family will soon move elsewhere; Max resolves to get even with those who bully him and his friends before he leaves since he will not remain long enough to face discipline for anything he does. The film was released in the United States on October 5, 2001, by Walt Disney Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics and was a box office bomb that grossed $18 million against its $25 million budget. PlotMax Keeble is a paperboy who starts his first day of middle school. Max is antagonized by the corrupt megalomaniac and tyrannical school principal, Elliot T. Jindrake; school bullies Troy McGinty and Dobbs; and the Evil Ice Cream Man. Max also learns that an animal shelter he visits next to the school is being closed to build Jindrake's opulent football stadium. Max's father Donald reveals that because of his job, he and the family will be relocating to Chicago for his boss, because he is unable to stand up for himself. Max realizes that he is free to do whatever he wants to his tormentors, facing no consequences because he will be gone by then. Enlisting his equally socially outcast friends Robe and Megan, Max sets up a variety of pranks. These include traumatizing Troy by playing the main theme song of the children's television show MacGoogles the Highlander Frog (which frightened him as a child), then trapping him in the gym with someone wearing a MacGoogles costume; instigating a fight between Dobbs and the Evil Ice Cream Man by stealing the coolant coil for the ice cream truck and Dobbs's handheld device; and ruining Jindrake's chances of becoming successor to the current superintendent, Bobby "Crazy Legs" Knebworth (an alumnus who was a star football player for the school) by planting animal pheromones within his breath spray, instigating a food fight in the cafeteria in view of Superintendent Knebworth, and later by sabotaging his TV announcements by placing a cardboard cutout of Max mocking him. After Max’s missions are completed, Jinkdrake, Troy and Dobbs somehow find out that Max was behind all the pranks he pulled off. Later, Max ends up ditching Robe and Megan's going-away party by accepting an invitation to a milkshake party hosted by his crush Jenna, causing a falling-out. Robe tells Max how Megan really feels about him, and then walks away telling Max that he hopes he enjoys his new life in Chicago. Max then calls Megan's house, telling her mom to relay to her that he is sorry for what happened. Taking Max's earlier advice to heart, Donald announces that he quit his job and will start his own business, meaning that Max is not moving after all. Max freaks out at this news, and learns that other students at his school are suffering because of his actions. Max confronts Jindrake, Troy, and Dobbs one final time, and with the help of other students at his school, Max eventually defeats Troy and Dobbs for good by throwing them into the dumpster with his schoolmates' help and stops Jindrake from demolishing the animal shelter. Jindrake is dismissed and facing criminal charges for manipulating the school budget in order to build his stadium after Max tricked him into publicly admitting to his crimes earlier. The film ends when Max rides on his bicycle delivering newspapers around his neighborhood, and the Evil Ice Cream Man starts pursuing him once again. Cast
Cameos
ReceptionBox officeMax Keeble's Big Move grossed $17.3 million in the United States and Canada and $1.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $18.6 million, against a production budget of $25 million.[1] The film grossed $5.4 million in its opening weekend, finishing 7th at the box office. Critical responseOn review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Max Keeble's Big Move has an approval rating of 29% based on 56 reviews, and an average rating of 4.31/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Max Keeble may be fun for kids, but bland and unoriginal for adults."[2] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score 40 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[4] References
External links Wikiquote has quotations related to Max Keeble's Big Move. |
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