'Willard' Makes You Wonder If You Were Nice Enough To That Weird Co-Worker of Yours

'Willard' is a 2003 remake of the 1971 film of the same name about a social misfit who lives with his mother in a worn out mansion. Willard (Crispin Glover) works as a clerk for a man named Mr. Martin (R. Lee Ermey) who constantly picks on Willard. Due to Willard's reluctant nature, he holds his tongue and takes the abuse.

Willard eventually befriends hundreds of rats in his house, including his favorite named Socrates. Willard realizes that the rats understand him and will do his own psychotic will if he commands. He takes this to his advantage and plots revenge against all those who have emotionally abused him.

His friendship with Socrates the rat is very strong and slightly disturbing. However, a toy-dog-sized rat named Ben wants the attention that Willard gives to Socrates. Willard simply ignores Ben.

Socrates is not the only quick-witted rat of the pack though. Ben also cooks up a devilish scheme of his own...

I watched this movie about 6 months ago and first heard of it when I went to a friend's house back in Germany 2 years ago. I knew about the original 1971 film, but did not know, at the time, about the remake.

So, 6 months ago, I remembered it and decided to watch it. I liked the movie, I thought Crispin Glover did a great job in 'Willard' and it was worth watching for his performance alone.

It's not exactly my top 10 favorite, but it was not terrible to me. I've seen worse...'Garfield'...

You may know Crispin Glover from the first 'Back to the Future' film as George McFly, the father of the main protagonist, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox).

If you're familar with 'Back to the Future' (and I pray to God that you DO cause it's awesome) I think you would agree that if Marty failed at getting his parents together in the past, George McFly would eventually become just like Willard.All because Lorraine didn't go to the dance with him

So, in short, I liked the movie, but I think what made it good was Crispin Glover. He's known for playing the weird guy in movies and this is obviously no exception. 'Willard' was MADE for Glover. I'm so happy Joaquin Phoenix turned down the role. Can you imagine 'Willard' with Joaquin Phoenix?

Although I'm sure the rats will love the face-nest he provides

3/5

Rent worthy? If you love Crispin Glover, like rats to the point of obsession, or just love those weird horror movies, yeah, then it's rent worthy. If you're simply curious about it now, it is still rent worthy. You may hate it, you may love it. It's a hit or miss movie.

DVD/Blu-ray worthy? I like the movie, but not enough to watch it over and over again and own it. If I catch it on TV, I'll leave 'Willard' on in the background. I do like Crispin Glover's work as an actor though. He's one of those people you know would say something interesting/strange every 6 seconds.

Random Tidbit: How are Crispin Glover and the late Michael Jackson connected?

1971's 'Willard' had a horror sequel titled 'Ben' after the giant rat in the first film. Michael Jackson sang the song titled 'Ben' for that movie. Obviously, Crispin Glover stars in 2003's 'Willard' and as an extra to the DVD, Glover sings his own rendition of 'Ben.'

Keep on watchin'

The Little Critic