Martian Child, 2007

Directed by Menno Meyjes
Written by Seth Bass and Jonathan Tolins (from the novelette by David Gerrold)
Starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Bobby Coleman

This one went under the radar, but you can understand why. It's a family story with some laughs that's going for the feel-good tugging-at-the-heartstrings feeling, and it basically succeeds, but you can see a lot of where it's going way too far out. (It may be that movie's predictability probably comes from the Hollywood clean-up of the actual story; no surprise, I suppose.) At the same time, if you know what you came for, you won't be disappointed: complaining about this movie's sentiment is like complaining about a James Bond movie for being all tuxedos, fights, cars, and beautiful women. John Cusack's performance has interesting depth and subtle moments; he demonstrates his acting skills if only because you'd guess he was an actual father from watching him in this movie.

Martian Child on IMDB.
Also, some related thoughts from me at geekiness(Josh Lubarr).