Max Keeble is a paperboy who starts his first day of middle school. Max is antagonized by the corrupt megalomaniacal school principal, Elliot T. Jindrake, resident school bullies Troy McGinty and Dobbs, and the Evil Ice Cream Man. Max also learns that an animal shelter he visits next door to the school is being closed down to build Jindrake's opulent football stadium. When Max's father, Donald, reveals that he is moving to Chicago for his boss, because he is unable to stand up for himself, Max realizes that he can do whatever he wants to his tormentors, facing no consequences because he will be gone by then. Enlisting his equally socially outcast friends, Robe and Megan, Max sets up a variety of pranks, which include traumatizing Troy by playing the main theme song of the children's television showMacGoogle the Highlander Frog, then trapping him in the gym with a MacGoogle costume wearer; instigating a fight between Dobbs and the Evil Ice Cream Man by stealing the coolant coil for the ice cream truck and Dobbs's handheld device; and ruining Jindrake's chances of becoming successor to the current superintendent, Bobby "Crazy Legs" Knebworth by planting animal pheromones within his breath spray, instigating a food fight in the cafeteria in view of Superintendent Knebworth, and later by sabotaging his TV announcements by placing a cardboard cutout of Max mocking him. After his missions are completed, Max ends up ditching Robe and Megan's going away party by accepting an invitation to a milkshake party hosted by his crush Jenna, causing a falling-out. Taking Max's earlier advice to heart, Don announces that he quit his job and started his own business, meaning that Max is not moving after all. Max freaks out at this news, and learns that other students at his school are suffering because of his actions. Max confronts Jindrake, Troy, and Dobbs one final time, and with the help of other students at his school, Max eventually defeats Troy and Dobbs for good by throwing them into the dumpster with his schoolmates' help and stops Jindrake from demolishing the animal shelter. Jindrake is dismissed and facing criminal charges for manipulating with the school budget to build his stadium due to Max tricking Jindrake into publicly admitting to his crimes earlier. The film ends when Max rides on his bicycle delivering newspapers around his neighborhood, and the Evil Ice Cream Man starts pursuing him once again.
Cast
Alex D. Linz as Max Keeble
Larry Miller as Principal Elliot T. Jindrake, the corrupt principal.
Jamie Kennedy as the Evil Ice Cream Man, an unnamed ice cream vendor who plans revenge on Max ever since he found a bug in the snow cone and his mom called the health department on him.
Nora Dunn as Lily Keeble, Max's mom.
Robert Carradine as Donald Keeble, Max's dad.
Josh Peck as Robe, the robe-wearing friend of Max.
Zena Grey as Megan, Max's female friend.
Noel Fisher as Troy McGinty, one of Max's bullies.
Orlando Brown as Dobbs, one of Max's bullies who also gets into a feud with the Evil Ice Cream Man whenever Dobbs poaches his customers.
Brooke Anne Smith as Jenna, the love interest of Max.
Max Keeble's Big Move grossed $17.3 million in the United States and Canada and $1.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $18.6 million, against a production budget of $25 million. The film grossed $5.4 million in its opening weekend, finishing 7th at the box office.
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 29% based on 56 reviews, and an average rating of 4.31/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Max Keeble may be fun for kids, but bland and unoriginal for adults." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score 40 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
