Post by StevePulaski on Jul 21, 2011 9:40:10 GMT -5
Pauly Shore and Tiffani Thiessen.
Rating: ★★½
When it comes to Son in Law, it's a mixed bag. Its premise is cute, but its delivery is a little strange. It's a comedy with Pauly Shore, so you're not going to get very clever humor. You're going to get below the belt jokes a lot of the time which is perfectly acceptable. As long as you know what you're getting into, you have no right to complain about the jokes.
Now do the jokes work? Most of them do, but most don't come from the lead actor/actress. The most jokes come from the girl's brother played by Patrick Renna, famous from The Sandlot. Such a weird little thing to say that the character in the movie who isn't on the cover or mentioned anywhere on the back is the funniest character in the film. And, at the time, he was only known for his role in The Sandlot and I doubt many kids who took the time to see that film did the same for this one.
The film is about a farm girl named Rebecca Warner (Guigino) leaving her South Dakota farm to go to College in California. Her parents, mainly her father (Smith), are skeptical about this College and worry that is may tamper with her original roots. She meets Crawl (Shore) who is the residential adviser of her dorm. Crawl is an off the wall kind of friend, and Rebecca thinks it's brilliant to bring him home to her strict family.
In California, Crawl fits right in. In South Dakota, Crawl is a fish out of water. The rest of the movie is compiled of Crawl's misadventures to try to impress the family of Rebecca. One scene includes him of stealing one of the families machines and taking it for a joy ride throughout their field with John Denver's Thank God I'm a Country Boy playing in the background. I'm not proud to say it, but that scene was hilarious.
There is also a strange, not very well put together love subplot with Rebecca and her boyfriend. There is nothing to even show that Rebecca even loves or cares about her boyfriend. Most of the movie is her blowing him off on various occasions. Also, we are lead to believe that Rebecca is in love with Crawl. Honestly, that isn't too believable because there is nothing about Crawl's appearance or personality that could make him attract a girl like Rebecca. We are constantly told she is a smart and potential-filled girl who wants to be a journalist, but somehow, she falls for someone with no hopes, dreams, other than getting through to the next day.
Son in Law doesn't have the humor or chemistry Bio-Dome or Encino Man did, but it's better than Jury Duty and a little better than In the Army Now. The one satisfying aspect of this is you can see Link (Fraser), the caveman from Encino Man (done two years prior to this), in a cameo role. That and the fact this is Shore's "Weasel" personality at full force. That can be a pro or a con. I, for one, had no problem with it.
Starring: Pauly Shore, Carla Gugino, Lane Smith, Cindy Pickett, Tiffani Thiessen, Dan Gauthier, Patrick Renna, Dennis Burkley, and Brendan Fraser. Directed by: Steve Rash.