Year: 1989
Directed By: Amy Heckerling
Written By: Amy Heckerlng
RYAN’S REVIEW
This movie does not belong in this collection of films. It is here for one and only one reason; we had babies of our own. I would have never in a million years purchased this film but I caught it on TV one day when our first born was just a toddler. Suddenly this really stupid movie seemed like the funniest thing I had ever seen. To me, that made it worth owning. Sometimes perspective is everything and makes all the difference in the world.
So much for perspective, I have now finished watching this movie again for the first time in a few years and all I can say is I was really caught up in the moment when I decided to buy it. I think it just hit me at the right time and I thought much too highly of it when I saw it on a shelf somewhere. The truth is I have always enjoyed going to the store and buying movies to add to our collection. The problem over the last few years is that I own nearly everything I ever loved and new movies are often out of the price range I find acceptable for DVDs these days. I miss finding new additions that I could snatch up and add to the shelf so sometimes I find myself reaching and buying movies that aren’t worth a damn. This is one of those cases I’m afraid, I said it even before watching it again; this movie flat out does not belong.
Do I even bother spending the time to write about this movie? It has its moments here and there that are funny if you have experience with babies and small children but otherwise it is a complete waste of time. John Travolta’s career had fallen straight into the crapper and if nothing else this franchise did do something to keep him going until he got his role in Pulp Fiction and got his star power back. He made three of them after all and they seemed to get progressively worse capping off with the most ridiculous excuse for a sequel ever in which the dogs were doing the talking. Despite all that if it kept him afloat long enough to recapture some stardom it at least matters for something.
I was too young to really get into Cheers when it was the hottest thing on TV so Kirstie Alley has never meant much to me. To be perfectly honest she did nothing in this film to win my favor either. I think she has a really whiny voice, and a whiny personality to go along with it. My wife is a big fan and pulled for her on Dancing with the Stars but I have never seen the appeal. I feel it’s necessary to mention Bruce Willis in this review because he is a big name attached to the film. As the voice of Mikey he certainly made that sperm/baby/toddler sound pretty cool but I don’t think this film was ever listed on his resumé.
I am a fan of Amy Heckerling and think she is a talented filmmaker. Despite my opinion about this film I still think she did many good things with it. She wrote really clever dialogue for the baby and toddler to think and I think she captured what so many of us know to be true early in parenthood. I specifically like her intro to the film with the egg making its way into place and the scene in which sperm Willis manages to beat out all of his competition to inseminate the egg. I will always be a fan of Heckerling though because she made one of my favorite high school films, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
I think I have said too much about this film already and I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see it. If you are a parent then there is plenty here to laugh at should you catch it on TV one day but overall I don’t think this movie is worth your time.
AMBER’S REVIEW
I remember watching this movie when I was little. My mom had a collection of movies that I would watch when I visited her and it included this one. She had a thing for both Travolta and Alley. I used to laugh and laugh. It’s also one of those movies that you watch as a kid and don’t fully understand the opening scene. Once you are an adult, you realize what it is and it becomes so much more…you know I don’t even know the words for the feeling. Maybe awkward? In any case I still love this movie and that’s probably because I have kids of my own now. Never been a big lover of Travolta, but I like his greaser-esque role in this movie.
This poster came out in 89, so I think it is actually doing a pretty good job of being clean and to the point. It also hits the target market: parents. If you don’t have kids then you probably don’t understand why the kid is chewing on the letters of the title. Until you have kids, you don’t understand the innate need they all have to put every last thing they grab into their mouths. And who can really blame them, what with all the bones forcing their way through gummy tissue. This poster hits the target market, keeps the typography and imaging clean and simple, and overall I think it does quite an incredible job. Especially for this caliber movie and time period. Kudos designer.
NEXT MOVIE: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2003)
The Movie Snobs 