Ivan Reitman (1946–2022)

An action hero goes undercover as a Kindergarten teacher.

I'm ashamed to admit, it got a few good laughs out of me. There's something pleasantly absurd about it - not in the way the filmmakers were going for, but the absurdity that this sort of movie gets made, that a sizable amount of people felt this was the best use of their time and money, and that they might have been right. It's objectively terrible, but I almost enjoyed watching it (and I am decidedly not its target audience). Also, show more Arnold saying, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, this is my ferret," is... um... something that happens.

Concept: F
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: D
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: D
Acting: D
Music: D

Enjoyment: C

GPA: 1.3/4 show less

The premise is fabulous; the idea (and its implementation) of resolving that through a plot driven by Babylonian Apocalypse, much less so.

A teen T&A comedy without the T or the A. Rescued from being ordinary by the relationship that develops between Murray's character and Makepeace's, which becomes the heart of the film. There's a set piece in it, "It Just Doesn't Matter" that's as funny as anything I've seen him do. Even the other people in the movie are cracking up. Avoid the sequel.

A film starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd (Columbia Pictures, 1989).

Paranormal scientists vs an evil painting and its underground slime.

C (Indifferent).

It's mostly special effects gags and merchandise ads, strung together with a script that presumably seemed Good Enough to somebody at some point. It's almost coherent. You can feel the careers of all the leads imploding as you watch. Peter MacNicol is funny as Janosz, though, for all the five minutes he's in the movie.

(Oct. 2022)