Simon Birch

Plot

Simon Birch believes that God made him for a special, heroic purpose. Simon and his best friend, Joe Wenteworth, are both outcasts in their tiny New England town. Joe is the illegitimate son of the town beauty, and Simon, at age 12, is so small that he still plays the infant Jesus in the church Christmas pageant.

In the summer of 1964, their friendship is put to the test when, during a Little League game, Simon hits a foul ball that strikes and kills Joe's mother. Together, they try to find out who Joe's father is. Just as they succeed, the time comes for Simon to fulfill the destiny he believes in. A situation arises that demands a hero - a very small hero.

While Simon and Joe are riding a school bus, the bus crashes into a lake. The two boys get everyone out of the bus, but Simon nearly drowns. While the two friends are in the hospital, Joe visits Simon, who later dies due to the injuries he sustained during the bus rescue. Joe remarks that he will always remember Simon for the hero that he was.

Cast

Production

The bus crash scene was filmed near Ontario's French River. The film's quarry scenes were shot at Elora, Ontario. The church featured in many parts of the film is in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Its black borders were painted white for the film. At the end of the film when it switches to the future, the borders are black. The baseball scene as well as many indoor scenes were filmed in Glen Williams, Ontario.

Soundtrack

Simon Birch features R&B songs from the 1950-60s, as well as four score cues by Marc Shaiman. The film's original motion picture soundtrack was released on compact disc, LP and audio cassette on September 1, 1998 through Sony Wonder, Hollywood Records and Epic Records featuring the following songs:

1. "You Were There" – Babyface
2. "Bread and Butter" – The Newbeats
3. "A Walkin' Miracle" – The Essex
4. "Mickey's Monkey" – Smokey Robinson / The Miracles
5. "Can I Get a Witness" – Marvin Gaye
6. "Fever" – Peggy Lee
7. "Up on the Roof" – The Drifters
8. "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag (Part 1)" – James Brown
9. "The Nitty Gritty" – Shirley Ellis
10. "Nowhere to Run" – Martha and the Vandellas
11. "It's All Right" – The Impressions
12. "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" – Jackie Wilson
13. "Simon's Theme" – Marc Shaiman
14. "Friends Forever" – Marc Shaiman
15. "Simon's Birth" – Marc Shaiman
16. "Life Goes On" – Marc Shaiman

Reception

Simon Birch holds a 44% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus calling the film "Overly mushy; tries too hard to pull at the heart-strings." On Metacritic, the film has a 39/100 rating, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Movie critic Gene Siskel rated it the 8th best movie of 1998.

The film opened at #5 at the North American box office making $3,321,370 in its opening weekend. The film would go on to gross $18,253,415 domestically, against a $20 million budget, resulting as a box office bomb.

Home media

The film was released on stereo dts LaserDisc format as well as VHS and DVD on May 18, 1999 (Region 1). The region 1 DVD contains a theatrical trailer for this film.