It is impossible to have a spoiler for this movie, because it is already rotten. At age 31, Fred Savage should know better. Directing his first feature film after years of work in television, he allows Cuba Gooding, Jr. to shamelessly mug the camera as if his eyebrows needed exercise. I have had high school student directors who exercised more restraint than this. I really don't mind fourth-grade gross-out humor either (my wife teaches fourth grade), but the bits in this sad excuse for a movie are merely gross without being remotely funny. Brown (did it have to be brown?) water gushing from the most disgustingly filthy toilet in history is not funny. Having a small boy throw up in the camp director's tent is not funny, no matter how tightly Gooding can clench his facial muscles in response. The most amateurish comedian knows that jokes have to be set up. In this movie there is no setup, there is no payoff, hence there is no joke. Having Gooding's character take a pratfall every third time he stands up doesn't help. In a theater full of families we were 50 minutes into an 80 minute movie before anyone actually laughed.
It would be tedious to note every major problem in this movie. Here is one. The big bully kid (there has to be one, of course) who looks to be about twelve going on thirteen, turns out to have a bed wetting problem (note the originality of this plot twist). A big, bad Marine colonel admits that he had the same problem until he was ten. This means the bully must be under the age of ten. But in his first appearance in the movie this same kid complains, "I wanna stay home and watch nudie movies." For those who may have forgotten fourth grade, this is not normal nine-year-old dialog. I begin to wonder about Fred Savage's childhood. Oh, that's right. He grew up in Hollywood.
There is only one exception to the annoying hyperactivity of the entire cast: the quiet dignity of Richard Gant as Gooding's Marine colonel father. An excellent actor who has never made it big, Gant almost manages to make his scenes work. The problem is that even though others are on screen at the same time, Gant is always working alone.
Not even the moral of the story - and this being a "family film" there must be a moral - provides any redemption for this movie. The closing scenes seem to establish that if the other guys cheat, you should cheat right back. Let's hope director Savage watches a few good comedies before he tries again.
It would be tedious to note every major problem in this movie. Here is one. The big bully kid (there has to be one, of course) who looks to be about twelve going on thirteen, turns out to have a bed wetting problem (note the originality of this plot twist). A big, bad Marine colonel admits that he had the same problem until he was ten. This means the bully must be under the age of ten. But in his first appearance in the movie this same kid complains, "I wanna stay home and watch nudie movies." For those who may have forgotten fourth grade, this is not normal nine-year-old dialog. I begin to wonder about Fred Savage's childhood. Oh, that's right. He grew up in Hollywood.
There is only one exception to the annoying hyperactivity of the entire cast: the quiet dignity of Richard Gant as Gooding's Marine colonel father. An excellent actor who has never made it big, Gant almost manages to make his scenes work. The problem is that even though others are on screen at the same time, Gant is always working alone.
Not even the moral of the story - and this being a "family film" there must be a moral - provides any redemption for this movie. The closing scenes seem to establish that if the other guys cheat, you should cheat right back. Let's hope director Savage watches a few good comedies before he tries again.