shorts

Director: robert rodriguez

Actor: jimmy bennett,james spader,kat dennings,jake short

Data Published: Fri Aug 07 2009

Genres: Comedy,Family,Fantasy,Horror,Romance,Sci-Fi

Key Words: mind reading,narrated by character,spacecraft,male female relationship,invention

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1100119/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorts_(2009_film)

Description: Shorts is a movie starring Jimmy Bennett, James Spader, and Kat Dennings. A young boy's discovery of a colorful, wish-granting rock causes chaos in the suburban town of Black Falls when jealous kids and scheming adults alike set out...

Plot: Toby "Toe" Thompson (Jimmy Bennett) a 11-year old is bullied by Helvetica "Hel" Black (Jolie Vanier) and her 13-year-old brother Cole (Devon Gearhart) on the way to school. Toe speculates that Hel loves him, infuriating Hel and leading Cole and his gang to start throwing rocks at Toe. One of the rocks they throw is a rainbow colored wishing rock, which Toe uses to wish for friends, which come in the form of small aliens. Toe takes the aliens to school, but their presence causes Toe and Hel to fall from the school's roof. The aliens leave, but Toe keeps the rock. Previously, the Wishing Rock appeared at the home of Loogie (Trevor Gagnon), Laser (Leo Howard), and Lug (Rebel Rodriguez) Short, and they eventually wished that one of them was very smart. However, the power was given to their infant sister (portrayed by Bianca Rodriguez and voiced by Elizabeth Avellan). She convinced the boys to hide the rock and Cole found it the next day to throw at Toe. Toe's older sister Stacey (Kat Dennings) arrives to tutor "Nose" Noseworthy (Jake Short), Toe's old, germaphobic friend. Nose picks his nose against his father's wishes and accidentally flicks the booger into his father's radioactive work study. Toe and Loogie, now friends, arrive at Nose's house in time to see Nose's booger mutate into a giant monster. After helping Nose's father (William H. Macy) capture the monster outside, Toe and Loogie take the rock and leave. Toe's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomson (Leslie Mann and Jon Cryer), like all adults in the town, work for Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries Incorporated, which manufactures the "Black Box" universal gadget. They are assigned by Mr. Carbon Black (James Spader), owner of Black Box, to compete to create a new marketing strategy. Toe's mother finds the rock in Toe's room and takes it. She and Mr. Thompson go to a Black Box costume party. Since they were having trouble with their relationship, she wishes that she and her husband were closer. They become mutated together into a two-headed person, but Mr. Black thinks that they're wearing a costume. Meanwhile, Toe realizes that his mother took the rock and rushes to the costume party, but runs into Hel and Cole, who take the rock and dump him in the garbage. Hel wishes that Cole would turn into a dung beetle and then loses the rock. The rock is found by Mr. Black who, unaware of its power, accidentally wishes for all of the employees to go for each other's throats. In the chaos, Toe retrieves the rock and wishes everyone back to normal. Hel takes the stone, wishes off her casts, and escapes before Toe throws the rock as far as he can, where it lands at the Noseworthy's house. As Toe and Loogie contemplate what to do with the rock, they are ambushed by the rest of the kids and fight until the rock winds up in the hands of Mr. Black. Mr. Black wishes that he was the most powerful thing in the world and turns into a giant Black Box. The infant tells them that the rock is starting to feel misused, as shown by the fact that the rock starts undoing all of their wishes. She also tells them the rock could destroy the Earth because of all of the petty wishes they make. Together they get rid of the rock and all of its effects are undone. Toe's parents decide to work on the marketing plan together and Mr. Black agrees. Mr. Black changes the Black Box into the more environmentally friendly Green Box. The Noseworthys lose their germaphobia, Toe's parents become closer, and it is suggested that Hel and Toe will marry in the future. All the children become friends and wished that their story would become a Hollywood movie, breaking the 4th wall.