A charming, well-done telepic revolving around a frazzled Delta Burke, Day-O is full of Disney magic and above-average performances. This telefilm is enjoyable for adults who want some escape from 60 Minutes, but it's doubtful if children will glean much from the well-written script.
Burke and her brother (David Packer) work with their dad (Fred Dalton Thompson) in the family business. She's quietly successful in being the true power in the company, though Thompson gives much of the credit to Packer. Burke just keeps her mouth shut and covers up for him. Packer is the little brother who usurped the family attention from Burke when he was born. It is obvious that he is dad's favorite; it's obvious as well that dad is very sexist in his views. This has chafed Burke all her life, and in the past she had compensated by inventing Day-O (Elijah Wood), her imaginary friend.
Burke also finds out she is pregnant. Since she is ambivalent about motherhood, she keeps the news to herself and stresses out. Day-O then reappears and throughout the rest of the telepic helps her cope and recognize her inner strength and worth. The rest of the family comes to recognize her value too.
Burke turns in a versatile, sympathetic portrayal, with the proper comic touches, of a woman on the edge — goodbye to Suzanne Sugarbaker forever! Young Elijah Wood is above average as the incarnated personality full of adolescent whimsy with adult wisdom. Pretty North Carolina beach locations are taken advantage of, and the rest of the tech credits are excellent.
********
This is another early-1990's made-for-TV movie, which means both money and time for production were short. But I think it fares well because it seems to recognize the limitations of the genre and doesn't try to be anything other than it is. It's a comedy, but not a slap-stick or laugh-out-loud one, with just enough heartwarming "awww" moments added. The story is predictable, and the main antagonist sees the light a little more easily than seems plausible, but this isn't meant to be high drama. All the characters, including the main ones, are broadly drawn, and the minor ones are basically "types" who fill their necessary slots in the story. Even so, I think we get some insight into Grace (Delta Burke), and the least stereotypical character is probably her husband, Ben (Charles Shaughnessy), who's not as easily labeled as most of the characters are.
Another drawback of the genre, is that these movies tended to get dated very quickly. Day-O fares better here, too, because the issues are more universally human and also, I think, because of the flashback scenes, which keep us from getting too rooted in 1992. But the fashions and other details (an umbrella baby stroller!) can't help but evoke the time.
Elijah Wood plays Grace's imaginary friend, Day-O, whom we first meet in flashbacks from her childhood 30 years earlier. He turns up again at a time when her life seems to be going out of control and she's anything but happy. Of course (and it is quite "of course"--that is, predictable), he reminds her of all the important things that a person in a movie like this needs to remember, and helps her gain confidence in herself. The comedy comes from the reactions of people who can't see him (every adult but Grace), and from his own reactions to modern life after being out of circulation for 30 years.
Day-O, besides being imaginary, is a happy, confident kid, who's all boy but wise beyond his years. Sound familiar? If there's any movie in which the character inhabits Elijah instead of the other way around, this could be it. Not that that's a bad thing. It's fun watching him be himself, and catching little flashes of who he'll be in the future. It was the experience of making this movie that led Delta Burke to predict that Elijah was going to "own Hollywood" someday. Happily, owning Hollywood doesn't seem to be something Elijah particularly cares about, but her point is well taken. "Someday that kid will be a heart-breaker," is another prediction that could easily have been made from this movie (and probably was, more than once).
