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Max Keeble's Big Move

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Max Keeble's Big Move
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTim Hill
Screenplay by
Story by
  • David Watts
  • Jonathan Bernstein
  • Mark Blackwell
  • James Greer
Produced byMike Karz
Starring
CinematographyArthur Albert
Edited by
  • Tony Lombardo
  • Peck Prior
Music byMichael Wandmacher
Production
companies
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date
  • October 5, 2001 (2001-10-05)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million[1]
Box office$18.6 million[1]

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.

Plot

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Max Keeble is a paperboy who starts his first day of middle school. Max is antagonized by the corrupt megalomaniacal and tyrannical school principal, Elliot T. Jindrake, resident school bullies Troy McGinty and Dobbs, and the Evil Ice Cream Man. Max also learns that an animal shelter he visits next door to the school is being closed down to build Jindrake's opulent football stadium.

When Max's father, Donald, reveals that he is moving to Chicago for his boss, because he is unable to stand up for himself, Max realizes that he can 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, which 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

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  • Alex D. Linz as Max Keeble, a junior high school student.
  • Larry Miller as Principal Elliot T. Jindrake, the corrupt and tyrannical principal.
  • Jamie Kennedy as the Evil Ice Cream Man, an unnamed ice cream vendor who plans revenge on Max ever since the latter found a bug in a snow cone and his mother called the health department on him.
  • Zena Grey as Megan, Max's female friend.
  • Josh Peck as Robe, the robe-wearing friend of Max.
  • Nora Dunn as Lily Keeble, Max's mother.
  • Robert Carradine as Donald Keeble, Max's father.
  • Clifton Davis as Bobby "Crazy Legs" Knebworth, a former football player and the superintendent of the school district that Max's school is in.
  • Amy Hill as Ms. Phyllis Rangoon, Principal Jindrake's secretary.
  • Amber Valletta as Ms. Nicole Dingman, one of Max's teachers.
  • Veronica Alicino as Mrs. Talia, Max's strict social studies teacher, and one of Dobbs's friends.
  • Noel Fisher as Troy McGinty, one of Max's bullies.
  • Orlando Brown as Dobbs, one of Max's bullies who gets into a feud with the Evil Ice Cream Man whenever Dobbs poaches his customers.
  • Justin Berfield as Caption writer
  • Brooke Anne Smith as Jenna, the love interest of Max.
  • Myra Ambriz as Chelsea
  • Dennis Haskins as Mr. Kohls
  • Chely Wright as Mrs. Styles, the Homeroom Teacher.

Cameos

Reception

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Box office

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Max 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 response

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On 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

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  1. ^ a b c "Max Keeble's Big Move (2001)". Box Office Mojo, LLC. Archived from the original on 2018-12-16. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
  2. ^ "Max Keeble's Big Move (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on September 8, 2024. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  3. ^ "Max Keeble's Big Move reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 3, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  4. ^ "Max Keeble's Big Move - CinemaScore". CinemaScore.com. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
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