The Odd Life of Timothy Green

A childless couple (Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton) write down the attributes of an ideal son and bury them in their garden; the perfect boy (CJ Adams) sprouts overnight, with leaves growing from his ankles. Director Peter Hedges’ script (from Ahmet Zappa’s story) never quite finds the bullseye it’s groping for, mainly because little Timothy’s odd life doesn’t really change anybody: In the end, Garner and Edgerton remain the same nice people, Garner’s boss (Dianne Wiest) the same prissy battle-ax, Edgerton’s boss (Ron Livingston) the same oily weasel they all were at the beginning; Timothy’s only effect is to come up with a new way to make pencils. It’s rather solemn whimsy, but hard to dislike when it tries so hard. Shohreh Aghdashloo, David Morse and Rosemarie DeWitt contribute from the sidelines.