The Man Who Could Talk to Kids

Peter Boyle works from next-to-nothing here as a California social worker and weekend child counselor/big brother who tries bringing an angry 13-year-old boy out of his shell. Seems the kid's grades went south right about the time mom gave birth to his little brother (cue the dramatic-revelation music). ABC-TV movie from writer Douglas Day Stewart has Boyle's Charlie Datweiler resorting to the usual things that grown-ups use on belligerent children to gain their acceptance: a picnic, a one-on-one basketball game, flying kites at the beach (also a new one: touring the remains of an abandoned amusement park!). Director Donald Wrye does well by his actors (Boyle is wonderful, Scott Jacoby is good as troubled Kenny, Robert Reed is solid as the kid's father--who wants to be his son's friend instead of a disciplinarian--and Tyne Daly is perfect as Boyle's loving wife), but this teleplay feels half-finished...and what exactly is solved by the 'happy' ending? **1/2 from ****