And then I actually saw Snow Day, a picture so bad not even he can save it. The movie has the right idea. The premise is a clever bit of wish fulfillment for children. The execution, however, is putrid, relying on every dim-witted cliché its makers could pack into a 90 minute feature.

As its title suggests, Snow Day is the story of a scenic New York town that gets hit with a blizzard that dumps several feet of snow on the ground. The town's children are ecstatic since the inclement weather means a day off from school. Chase plays the father of two of these children. He's also a meteorologist who's forced to wear funny costumes on his weather broadcasts as a means of upping the low ratings. His rival (John Schneider of "The Dukes of Hazzard" fame) is a slick, handsome guy with big ratings and little actual knowledge of weather patterns.

How lame is Snow Day? Consider its familiar elements: Chase's awkward-but-hopelessly-romantic son Hal; Claire, the pretty, popular girl Hal likes even though she doesn't know he exists; Claire's obnoxious jock boyfriend who lives to torment Hal; Hal's best female friend who harbors a secret crush on him; an overbearing school principal; a mother who is too busy with her job to pay attention to her children; and a fat kid who farts whenever a punch line is needed. If there's so much as a grain of originality here, I've missed it.

The rest of the plot involves "Snow Plow Man" (Chris Elliott), a nasty public servant with rotted teeth whose mission is to plow all the snow so the kids will have to go back to school. Chase's daughter leads the other children in an assault on Snow Plow Man so that they can gain the unheard-of "second snow day." Like Chase, Elliot is a very funny performer, but he's given so little to work with that he can't squeeze out any laughs.

Kids enjoy a Snow Day by running over an enemy with a plow

Much of the so-called humor in the film is mean-spirited or just plain dumb (gags about yellow snow - ho ho ho!). I like the general idea of capturing the magic a snow day holds for kids, but too much of Snow Day trots out familiar characters and predictable subplots. There's also a healthy bit of anti-social behavior here that you may not want your kids to emulate. For instance, the children at one point steal the snow plow (leading me to wonder how a couple of 11 year-olds would know how to drive a stick shift...but that's another matter altogether). While behind the wheel, they run down another kid with the plow, in what's supposed to be an example of "getting what you deserve."

I know what some of you may be thinking: Snow Day is not aimed at me, it's aimed at a preadolescent audience. True enough, but also beside the point. There is nothing that says a movie aimed at young audiences has to be stupid. If anything, Hollywood has more of an obligation to make imaginative and creative films for kids. The folks at Nickelodeon have demonstrated some innovation in their TV programming, creating shows that stimulate the imaginations of young viewers without condescending to them. Why, then, did they choose to finance a feature film where the biggest joke is a kid who blows wind on command?

( 1/2 out of four)

Snow Day is rated PG for mild brief peril and language. The running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes.