brainy and cross dress little boy find success on the spell bee circuit despite an unconventional and dysfunctional upbringing . shirley maclaine direct and star a the child grandmother and and it be always fascinate to see long time actor get their chance at direct a film and the material that theyre draw to and the actor they choose to work with . here and the only person well cast in bruno be maclaine . the child actor seem to have be pick for their twinkle and cuteness and and squishy hearted maclaine hold their close ups for excruciatingly long period while nothing about these cherub seem natural and not the line that fall without consciousness out of their mouth or the interaction they have with adult or even each other . a the boy disgruntle father and poor gary sinise hovers around the edge and in mock shame and always with a pained look on his face . towards the end of the film and maclaine turn the whole thing into a passel of hug scene and and even concludes with the kid hug the pope in rome . another ungodly treatise from a talented actress turn director who and much like sally field and her film beautiful and can not seem to stop winking at and nudge the audience . shirley us ethnicity for shtick and and childhood innocence a a punchline . the child in this cast roll their eye and crack wise with mature comment and use big word but when one mealy mouth boy call our pint size hero gay and maclaine granny instruct him to go over and punch the kid out ( in front the medium . ) . how that for progression . from .