THE BOY, THE DEVIL AND DIVORCE

Frede turns from the soapy turf of The Pilots (1978) and The Nurses (1985) to equally corny climes in this tale of an adorable kid who tries to keep his divorcing parents together—in this case, by hiring the meanest divorce lawyer in the business. It's hard to see why ten-year-old Justin Whitney would be so attached to his narcissistic, success-driven parents, Skip and Gamble, but everybody agrees that however the two may have come to loathe each other, they're still terrifically devoted parents, even if their battles are pulling Justin apart. So Justin writes from his New Hampshire dream house, the most conspicuous of his parents' toys, to Boston, and finally succeeds in engaging Weld Pennyworth, the legendary Boston Devil. Surprise! The Devil soon gets his client entered as a party to his parents' divorce in two separate courts and proceeds to hassle the begorra out of them. Surprise! When Justin gets together with other children of divorce to form the National Organization of Kids and goes on radio to talk about kids' rights, the response is off the charts. Surprise! A timely accident makes Skip and Gamble realize just how much they love Justin. Surprise! The Devil turns out to be an alienated child of divorce himself—a basically nice guy who's just crying out for love. Surprised? This book could be your meat. Despite some sensible thoughts about kids' legal disempowerment and a surprisingly good ending: mainly Disney for grown-ups. Hayley Mills, your attorney is on line two.