Kevin Had Serious, Serious Issues

He had a lower tolerance for frustration than you, but that doesn't make him mentally disturbed. He was going through a phase, and the movie indicated that he was a happier, calmer kid by the end. And he probably has more empathy than you.

You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi

I've never in my life seen a kid flip out and start crying because kids his age don't like him.

WOW - you haven't been around many kids. Children display frustration and lack of self confidence in many different ways. Some emote openly, like Kevin. Others keep it inside but suffer from depression, eating disorders, cutting themselves, etc.

(Kevin) needed to be put away in a mental hospital. That scene where he starts crying because he lost his retainer is ridiculous! Life goes on, get over it.

I have to agree with the other MuchToBeGratefulFor that Kevin's meltdown about his retainer was not indicative of serious mental issue. Kids get like that because they're tired, over-extended, frustrated by other events in their lives, etc.

Yes, you hope by adulthood someone like Kevin would've figured things out -- how to cope with frustrations in life, how to handle peer pressure, etc. But kids have to have the opportunity to do that as kids without adults judging them from the adult perspective (which creates a more stressful environment).

Kids are just growing humans trying to figure out how it all works. It's easy to be an adult and judge them for their "rookie" mistakes, but that only makes things worse for the kids. Thank goodness Kevin had a parent like Steve Martin in his corner. I'm sure he ended up okay.

Rarely are kids born with complete self confidence and lack of concern about what others think of them. Kids like that end up being poor team players at work, or (worse case scenario) end up being serial killers. No joke - they lack any concern over what others think of them and have no empathy for others as part of their physiological/psychological make up.

-Jane

Well, some kids are very sensitive about things and cannot understand the way other kids react to them. I think Kevin felt that he couldn't do anything right, like with the baseball game where he drops the fly ball. The kids sort of made him feel that way, like when he is told he stinks. Some kids can just ignore that and others can't.

you sound more disturbed than the kid by your blatant apathy OR you are just really immature (inexperienced) &/or ignorant.

serva me, serva bote

Losing his retainer was the straw-that-broke-the-donkey's-back event...

Don't forget that Kevin (who is an extremely sensitive child) had just been threatened and bullied out of money in public; in front of his family and his school mates.

The retainer incident was a culmination to a rotten high-pressured day that his birthday turned out to be.

Disturbed? No, Gary was disturbed. Kevin was overly emotional, but disturbed? Lol, you make it seem like he was killing small animals or something.

I usually can't, I just conceal it to myself, I don't flip out over dumb stuff. People just need to calm down.

Oh, no.... I LOST MY RETAINER! OH MY GOD....

Dragonzord! Mastodon! Pterodactyl! Triceratops! Saber Toothed Tiger! Tyrannosaurus!

I know he's a kid and troubled, but he really overreacted to so many things. Like when the lights go out at Susan's he totally panicked! Come on kid, you're not 4!
The lights went out, it was still daytime....relax!

The retainer I could see screaming about, as they are expensive and he likely thought his parents would be very angry. Plus, like another poster said, he was already pissed off to begin with.

That said, I still felt Kevin almost needed a smack a couple times there, and NOT such mollycoddling by his parents! If that were me, my mom would have said "All right all right! Calm down already! Its not the end of the world!"
Some of his problem I thought was his parents. He needed to toughen up a bit, even for a kid.


"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."