It's a real shame when a talented director like Coppola ends up doing hack work, but that's what he does here. It's also a shame that Williams has to keep choosing to take juvenile and stupid roles like what he did in this film. Unfortunately, that's what even he does here, and what led to his being in childish tripe like this? His equally childish role in what is by far one of the worst sitcoms of the late 1970's, early 1980's, Mork and Mindy. It's mystery as to how anyone could stand him in that grating, unintelligent clunker, which is probably why ABC kept it on the air for at least 4 seasons: because there would ALWAYS be SOMEONE to waste their time on such a juvenile concoction, and that way, they could dumb down the TV and moviegoing public at ease. So it wasn't a matter of ratings, if so, it was matter of dumbing down the public taste. And so, thanks to Williams' penchant for juvenile antics, even in drama, we have this poorly conceived comedy-drama, complete with crude humor, about a boy who's got a contrived disese that makes him age at four times the normal rate, and his experiences while attending elementary school. The movie is too mature for kids and too redundant for grownups, and even if the star here weren't Williams, the movie would still have had the smell of doom all over it. One of the worst moments in the film is where Williams and some of the new friends he's made in his school have a flatulence contest(don't ask me how they prepare for that, it's truly disgusting). I felt really sorry to have to see an old time favorite like Bill Cosby, who may have studied at the same university as my Ma and Pa, Temple, Penn State, go slumming in such balderdash as this as Jack's tutor. Poor Cosby hasn't found any good roles in the movies ever since he made the mistake of starring in that terrible 1987 clunker, Leonard part 6. That's why I'm glad that he does still have success on television, such as in his latest TV show, simply titled Cosby. As for Williams, he and his Jack character should pack their bags and go live somewhere like the South Pole where the only the penguins should have to tolerate his non-humor. I also hope that Coppola has learned his lesson from making such smut, and that he'll never stoop this low again. The film ends when Jack is graduating from college with his hair having already turned gray, and the rising sensation of vomit in my throat.