John Shea (1/99 Adventures of Sebastian Cole)
Excerpt from Sundance 1/99: John Shea | The Adventures of Sebastian Cole | Picture on Getty Images
The Adventures of Sebastian Cole
Director: Tod Williams Screenwriters: Tod Williams
Institute History 1999 Sundance Film Festival
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Producer Karen Barber Jasmine Kosovic
Actor Rory Cochrane
Margaret Colin
Clark Gregg
Adrian Grenier
Aleksa Palladino
John Shea
© Sundance
San Diego Reader 1999: John Shea
The Adventures of Sebastian Cole
- Duncan Shepherd
Normal teen confusion, compounded by a mop-haired stepdad who's undergoing a sex change ("He still wants to be with my mom, so I guess that makes him a dyke"). A coming-of-age tale, circa 1983, with that special American-independent spin -- or wobble. Unreal, unfunny, uninvolving. With Adrian Grenier, Clark Gregg, Margaret Colin, John Shea; written and directed by Tod Williams. 1999.
© San Diego Reader
The Stranger 5/13/99: John Shea
SIFF Notes: THE MOVIES
From the May 13 - May 19, 1999 issue
Pacific Place, Wed May 26 at 7:15The Adventures of Sebastian ColeUSA, 1998Director: Tod Williams Cast: Adrian Grenier, Clark Gregg, Margaret Colin, Aleksa Palladino, John Shea. 112 minutes.Pacific Place, Fri May 28 at 9:00
© The Stranger
Excerpt from New York Times 8/6/99: John Shea
FILM REVIEW; When a Boy's Stepdad Is the Best Mother of All
By STEPHEN HOLDEN Published: August 6, 1999
The opening scene finds Sebastian squirming during one of those excruciating family dinners at which various branches sprung from divorce put on a painfully uncomfortable show of solidarity for the sake of children on whom nothing is lost. Among those present are Sebastian's biological father, Hartley (John Shea), a smug yuppie architect, and his new trophy wife; Sebastian's sister, Jessica (Marni Lustig), who is bound for Stanford; his high-strung mother, Joan (Margaret Colin), and his shaggy-haired stepfather, Hank (Clark Gregg). From the beginning, it is obvious that Hank, who exhibits a stern but loving attitude toward his stepson, is much more caring toward Sebastian than Hartley ever was.
© New York Times
Excerpt from LA Times 8/6/99: John Shea
Strong Cast Can't Help 'Cole' Live Up to Potential
August 06, 1999|KEVIN THOMAS | TIMES STAFF WRITER
Yet, after an apparently desultory summer abroad, Sebastian returns for his senior year, which means moving in with Henrietta as she prepares for surgery. It would seem that when all is said and done, the only relative who ever had time for Sebastian was Hank, including his actual father (John Shea), a hard-working, intensely focused architect with whom Sebastian has had little connection.
© LA Times
Excerpt from Cinematter 8/6/99: John Shea
The Adventures of Sebastian Cole - * * 1/2*
Posted on August 6, 1999 by Madeleine Williams
Tod Williams directs this comedy about a dysfunctional family. Adrian Grenier stars as Sebastian Cole, a high school junior whose stepfather (Clark Gregg) announces he is a transsexual. Margaret Colin plays Sebastian’s mother. Aleksa Palladino, John Shea and Marni Lustig also star. Famke Janssen has a cameo.
© Cinematter
Excerpt from Variety 8/19/99: John Shea
Review: ‘The Adventures of Sebastian Cole’
September 18, 1998 | 12:00AM PT Joe Leydon
Dysfunctional is too mild a term to describe Sebastian’s extended family. His parents are divorced, his mother remarried. Sebastian’s father (John Shea) is an architect who insists that all great artists - and, of course, great architects - must ignore their families while pursuing their goals.
© Variety
Excerpt from E Film Critic 8/19/99: John Shea
Adventures of Sebastian Cole, The
by iF Magazine
In continuing with the trend of movies of today taking place in times of yesterday, THE ADVENTURES OF SEBASTIAN COLE involves a teenager (Adrian Grenier) growing up in upstate New York in the �80s with an overemotional mother (Margaret Colin with an ineffective English accent), a too-busy-with-his-own-life-to-care father (John Shea) and a cross dressing stepfather (Clark Gregg), soon to be stepmother, who seems to care too much.
© E Film Critic
Excerpt from Roger Ebert 8/20/99: John Shea
The Adventures of Sebastian Cole
BY ROGER EBERT / August 20, 1999
Cast & Credits
Sebastian Cole: Adrian Grenier
Hank/Henrietta: Clark Gregg
Mary: Aleksa Palladino
Joan: Margaret Colin
Jessica: Marni Lustig
Hartley: John Shea
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Sebastian's father, Hartley (John Shea), is an architect with a new Asian-American wife who hardly even seems to be there, so little does she ever say.
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And the biological father Hartley, a famous architect, has a revealing talk with his son: "If you're serious about being a writer, you've got to sacrifice the people you love to your work." It's pretty clear that's what Hartley did.
© Roger Ebert
Excerpt from Arlington Heights Daily Herald 8/20/99: John Shea
Annoying teen movie clichés mar The Adventures of Sebastian Cole
Friday, August 20, 1999
He has plenty of reason to be unmotivated by his upstate New York lifestyle. He has a mom (Margaret Colin) who speaks in a twitty British accent and a dad (John Shea) with a new trophy wife and no time to play a parental role, except to advise his son, "Sacrifice the people you love for your writing!"
© Daily Herald
Excerpt from Chicago Tribune 8/20/99: John Shea
`Adventures Of Sebastian Cole' A Sweet Coming-of-age Film
August 20, 1999|By John Petrakis. Special to the Tribune.
Soon, however, Sebastian returns, and instead of living with his insufferable biological dad, a successful architect with a young trophy wife, moves back in with Hank, who is already in the process of becoming Henrietta.
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THE CAST
Sebastian ............... Adrian Grenier
Hank/Henrietta .......... Clark Gregg
Mary .................... Aleksa Palladino
Joan .................... Margaret Colin
Hartley ................. John Shea
Juvie Bob ............... Levon Helm
© Chicago Tribune
Excerpt from Philly.com 8/27/99: John Shea
It's Hard Being 17 But Not Boring
By Steven Rea, INQUIRER MOVIE CRITIC Posted: August 27, 1999
Less successful are the portraits of fractured family life: the unhappy sister, the self-centered dad (John Shea), the drunken divorcee, the wealthy, WASP-y grandparents back in Chicago . . . they're a series of sketchy portraits sketchily played.
© Philly.com
Excerpt from Post Gazette 10/15/99: John Shea
Movie Review: "The Adventures of Sebastian Cole"
Friday, October 15, 1999 By Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Who's worried about a date for the Big Dance when you're coping with a stepfather who wants to undergo a sex-change operation, a mother who seeks solace in beer, wine and her native England, an absent father who's pleasant but clueless and a sister last seen on the back of her boyfriend's motorcycle headed for California?
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The children of divorced parents (John Shea and Margaret Colin), Sebastian and his sister are summoned to the living room for an announcement from their stepfather, Hank (Clark Gregg).
© Post Gazette
Excerpt from Film Journal: John Shea
ADVENTURES OF SEBASTIAN COLE, THE
-By David Noh
Seventeen-year-old misfit Sebastian (Adrian Grenier) has major issues to deal with in his young life: His stepfather Hank (Clark Gregg) has decided to become a woman; his sister (Aleksa Palladino) flees to California with her boyfriend; his mother (Margaret Colin) is a drunk who tries to drag him off to her native England; his biological father (John Shea) is an egomaniacal prig with a new trophy wife.
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Palladino and Colin are wasted in their ill-conceived roles, although Shea is smugly well-cast.
© Film Journal