Once again, I am a sucker for a feel-good, happy-ending film.

Nearly 40-year-old Russell “Russ” Duritz (Bruce Willis) makes the big bucks as an “image consultant”. As one other (speaking loosely) character points out halfway through the film, this is a job in which you essentially help people lie about themselves to other people. To do such a job one must be cold, cynical and uncaring. Russ comes across as all of these. He is unkind and officious to his secretary Janet (Lily Tomlin), unkind and nasty to his assistant Amy (Emily Mortimer), and unkind and bitter to his father Sam. It is a wonder no one has shot him. In fact, some unidentified individual in a red biplane does seem to be out to get him.

Enter nearly eight-year-old Russell “Rusty” Duritz, a fat little boy with a mild speech impediment, a nearly pathological fear of his father, and a fixed idea of what grown-up life is going to be like (he will have a really smart dog named Chester, and some nice lady will live with him). Rusty appears, more or less out of nowhere, in Russ’s house, and the two of them quickly discover that they are the same person, only separated by some 32 years. This is not very pleasing to either one of them. Russ finds his grade-school self to be a howling embarassment, in the same way that most parents seem to find their children (though never anyone else’s) to be embarassing; Rusty is not pleased to discover that he grows up to be what he considers a loser, inasmuch as Russ has neither a wife nor a dog. And, of course, the questions arise: why is he there? Is he supposed to learn something from Russ? Is Russ supposed to learn something from him? Are they supposed to help each other (or themselves, as the case may be)? And who is flying around in that red biplane?

The plot doesn’t always hang together, but it is fun; and it’s nice to know that some people are able to find redemption, though the assumption that they can only do so late in life — which is here defined as forty years old — is a bit unsettling… Bruce Willis does a creditable job, though not always on the mark (there is much discussion of the tic under his right eye, which I, for one, was never able to catch). Star Trek: Voyager fans should look closely for a very, very quick appearance by Jeri Ryan (“Seven of Nine”) — I, for one, caught it only in the end credits.

I give nothing away if I reveal that the ending is a happy one, with a rather interesting twist; Rusty and Russ teach themselves that, while que era era, que será need not necessarily será.