"Little Man Tate" is a heartwarming, at times poignant, story of a precocious and highly intelligent little boy named Fred Tate (Adam Hynn Bird) incapable to develop sane relationships with his entourage, especially kids his age. His best friend is his mother, a twenty-something free-spirited single woman named Dede and played by a young Jodie Foster, he calls her by her name as if that complicity was a way to make up for the lack of real buddies. One of the most eloquent scenes shows a room full of birthday decorations, balloons, cake and candies, but lacking the essential: kids.This might sound like usual material; after all, gifted kids have always been lacking social skills despite their efforts. In a way, maybe these very efforts are the indicators that they have something to compensate, a sort of invisible burden but of socially handicapping effect. Still, the film obviously tries to get beyond these clichés by establishing the real trait of Fred; he's a smart boy with an incredible intuitive quality, so he can make his own diagnosis. His capability to 'understand' even the most obscure and hidden meanings maybe surpasses his ability to juggle with cubic roots and logarithms, so the paradox is that he can tell you what is wrong with him. But like in a math riddle, just because you can tell what the problem is doesn't mean you've got what it takes to solve it.Fred tries his best to have ersatz of contacts with the other kids. The problem is that he's like a collateral victim of his intelligence, he's highly anxious over the future of the world, developing an ulcer from the anxiety, and yet he needs to be constantly challenged, to satisfy the particularities of his gift. Fred needs challenges he obviously can't find in the very world he wants to fit in, and he needs the real world to fulfill a few dreams, there's a sort of complex situation that an outsider will try to solve. The third player is Jane, played by Dianne Wiest, a former gifted child who helps them to find a path through painting, artistic creations, and travels to Orlando, contests and interview. As they say "travels broaden the mind" and that's what she tries to do.There is not much of a plot except a fascinating coming-of-age story revolving around the 'love' triangle between Jane who's obviously fascinated by Fred and is convinced she can help him to find his way and Dede who can't stand the way he's treated like some sort of a circus freak. It's like "Good Will Hunting" with Wiest in the Skarsgard and Foster in the Williams' roles, but with maternal love at stakes. Dede even threatens Jane to kill her if anything wrong happens, and killing isn't a manner of speaking. But it seems like Fred is interested in these experiments, and during his journey, he comes across many interesting encounters, an obnoxious mathemagician kid wearing a black cape and a young adult student who teaches him billiards. But these relationships never last and tend to project the same reality to Fred: he needs a real mother and real friends.Jane doesn't even seem capable to play a mother role, as she was too focused on the intelligence of her children she couldn't reach the intelligence of the heart, and Dede can't reach her son's mind. The story progresses nonetheless through a fascinating path where Fred's insecurities and weaknesses, rather understandable for a child, highlight the more unstable emotions of adults and inevitably lead to a moment of rebellion where Fred is obviously tired of being an object of fascination and prefers to be a subject. Jodie Foster was an appropriate director for she was a gifted child and maybe the character of little Fred was a way to let some repressed feelings steam off and reveal the curse of being below the others.This is a 'little film' by the usual standards, in 1991, Jodie Foster would be more noted for her performance as Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs" but the acting and yes, the directing, provide very interesting characters, so deep and real we actually care for them and wish they can find the strength to overcome these kind of puzzling dilemmas where everyone is both right and wrong. I only wish the resolution was handled in a better way, it seems that the film didn't care for a climax and things seemed to have been fixed by themselves as we couldn't tell what happened between the TV incident and the birthday party that concluded the film.There must have been some off-screen reconciliation or deep discussions but we never get to know them, maybe it was a deliberate choice, an artistic license from Foster, telling us to give this little kid a break and accept that he could finally be a happy little boy. I guess I longed for more complexity but despite that little faux-pas, this is a movie that I enjoyed as a kid, and realized that it still held up very well with my adult mind.

Child genius in a working-class environment goes off to college under the auspices of a nonpareil female mentor, which brings forth resentment and maybe some jealousy in the kid's single mom. Seemingly slight drama is full of dead-on touches of youthful heartache which can resonate deeply with anyone who has experienced childhood disappointment (such as a birthday party no one attends). Fred Tate isn't a happy, sunny kid--he's "pensive"--and he's almost always a fish-out-of-water. Director Jodie Foster (who also stars as Tate's mother) does a good job of guiding us through all the complicated emotions inherent in this story, but intentionally veers off track at the end, giving us a really happy ending that feels like a cheat. Foster may have added it for the benefit of the audience as an emotional release, but I didn't buy it. Despite this fault--and a somewhat wayward section at the university which seems designed to show off Harry Connick Jr.'s sass and musical talent--the film has a velvety kind of vulnerability which is quite touching. Foster as an actress does a good job (although her character's trashy mouth gets tiresome), but Dianne Wiest is unable to come up with anything surprising as Fred's mentor (who, too easily, is shown to be brilliant but lonesome herself). **1/2 from ****

I watch the movie and i think it was 1999, so I was not much older than the boy. i found inspiration and comfort in realizing what great potential could recides in me i.e i was motivated for life, to sot of always try not to be average but unique and special.I am not a genius but when I was a kid I dreamt of nothing else. I do not want to be a genius, but to find my talent, my purpose in life. I think the is nothing more than more than, than to find purpose.And this is what this movie is about, a young boy born with clear purpose.Not just that, but the movie brought many thoughts and actions that still bind me today, it created a character in me that wants to always be and do better than others. A character that motivated me to concentrate even more on my drawing skill, mathematical, singing(musical),athletic, analytical, karate,and etc skills. There are so much skill that i have developed though this movie over the past 8 to 10 years since i watch it.when i think as to what my personality was back then i cant even remember because that was not me, that was just some emotion that got stronger that bounded me and kept me slavery, and now at about 12 intervals a year a year I, remember what my problem is and try to fix myself where ever i can.Its a very good movie, but such movies should not be watch by children with wick or sensitive personality problems.

Little Man Tate was one of my favorite movies as a child, I don't know why, but maybe because my grandmother and I bonded over this movie, it's just special to me. But I was a little disappointed to see a low rating on IMDb, I think this is an absolute treasure of a film. Jodie and Dianne are just such a terrific pair of actresses and are perfect casting for the film. I know Jodie Foster was in charge of the film and she did a terrific job. The boy who played Fred was so charming and fit the role perfectly. The story is so touching and beautiful, not to mention original since the story of gifted children isn't really discussed that well.Fred is a young boy who is extremely gifted, his intelligence is something very special. But his mom, DeeDee, doesn't really let him expand since she is a single mom wanting her son just to be normal. But Fred is discovered by Jane Grierson, a professor of highly intelligent and gifted children, giving Fred the chance to expand his world and even takes him to college at a young age. Fred meets interesting characters throughout his journey learning that maybe life has more to offer than what he used too.Little Man Tate is a very good movie and very charming. I know some might find it a little boring, but honestly, you have got to give this movie a chance, it has great drama and some fun comedy along the way. David Hyde Pierce was such a fun addition to the cast, he really makes his screen presence enjoyable, so does Dianne. But the whole cast is just perfect and seemed to enjoy doing this movie together. I would highly recommend this movie, it's a good one to watch.7/10