30 Second Bottom Line: A 12-year-old jazz piano prodigy becomes friends with a local musician. Both of them have a neurological disorder called Tourette's syndrome, which can cause a nervous twitch. The boy's mother is first introduced to the musician's music by attending his jam sessions. Because of her son, she gets to know the man, and becomes sexually attracted to him. While the mother deals with the syndrome heads up, the musician does not.

Laura and Miles look at tapes of Thelonious Monk and analyze his style. After the awful school band that Miles plays in ends their practice session, he plays his jazz riffs. His music teacher seems oblivious to his talent, as her focus is solely on whether he plays flat fingered or curved, as she incorrectly assumes Horowitz played?

Miles is harassed and made fun of by some of his classmates because of his nervous twitch. If he uses an arm patch, much like those used to stop smoking, it stops the twitch, but leaves Miles zombie like, and unable to play music.

Miles plays word games with his mom, which often have no right or wrong answer. Would she rather have a son who is normal and can't play the piano, or a one who is weird and can play? Both of them choose the latter while the divorced father would surely choose the former.

On the way to Europe from the West Coast, Miles meets his father during a layover at the airport. His father is so self centered that his idea of a truly great birthday present for his son is to reveal that he is getting married to a new woman, who is already pregnant. The father also congratulates Miles on seeming so normal, and not moving around "like a Mexican jumping bean".

Miles becomes depressed because it seems his mother can't marry Tyrone (Gregory Hines), because the two of them can't agree on if the Tourette's should be discussed at all, and his dad wants a new wife and child, and will not miss him.

Tell Me More About It: The Tic Code deals more maturely with the peer pressures of young adults than the cheerleader movie Bring It On. There is more sex in the latter, but the language is more direct in The Tic Code. Yet, I'd have no reservations taking a mature 11-year-old to this film. Bring It On, though not useless, only scratches the surface in dealing with the values we adults may want to pass on to our children. As our children are introduced to sex, I feel it's better for them to see it from a true relationship perspective rather than primarily T&A.

There is a lot about The Tic Code I like; the story, the characters, the setting, how well it's filmed, and the chemistry between parent and child, and lover to lover. The hard edge, straight-ahead jazz of Tyrone, contrasted to the laid back jazz of Thelonious Monk, set the tone and carried the film. Seeing Monk at the start of the film, and knowing the boy's name is Miles, set an expectation for me that I'd be hearing music of the type from the 1960's, when Miles Davis had his band with Cannonball Adderly and John Coltrane. While I'm not knocking the music, I do think it could have been better. With so much of the film set at the legendary club The Village Gate, I was ready for some grooving music. I would also like to see Miles and Tyrone play more than they do, and really jam. It must be a coincidence that as I'm writing this I just happen to be listening to "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis, which I consider to be the best jazz album of all time.

In addition to being the lead actress in the film, Polly Draper also wrote the screenplay. Her husband has a mild case of Tourette's syndrome. She does an admirable job of showing that peer pressure can be an issue for adults as well as children. Miles' best buddy Todd (Desmond Robertson) is a kid who knows how to get along by going along, and he's totally unfazed by the twitching.

The concept of politically correct is not something to laugh at or pay attention to only when we are in public. Laura admonishes Miles when he makes fun of Lilly (Camryn Manheim) for having a figure for Lane Bryant dresses.

Christopher Marquette: "Noah"-TV	Polly Draper: "Always Say Goodbye"
Gregory Hines: "The Preachers Wife"	Desmond Robertson: "It Takes Two"
Camryn Manheim: "The Practice"-TV	Bill Nunn: "The Last Seduction"
Gary Winick: "Sweet Nothing"

Miles: Christopher Marquette	Laura: Polly Draper
Tyrone: Gregory Hines	Todd: Desmond Robertson
Lilly: Camryn Manheim	Kingston: Bill Nunn
Director: Gary Winick