Willard

Production-designed within an inch of its life, this remake's best conceit is the casting of Crispin Glover as its socially maladroit rat fancier. Glover's offbeat real-life pursuits include cut-and-paste reinterpretations of 19th-century books, notably a 1896 guide called Rat-Catching — clearly, he was born to be Willard, and brings a clammy brio to the role that's always entertaining, if not especially subtle. Shy, repressed Willard Stiles lives in a decrepit house dominated by his ailing mother (Jackie Burroughs) and memories of his late father; the film's most successful in-joke — there are many — is that the face in the photos and portraits...