'THE CHAPERONE': Two Stars (Out of Five)
WWE superstar Triple H (also known as Paul Levesque) stars in this family action comedy which could be described as 'DIE HARD' on a kid's school bus! Levesque plays an ex-con, straight out of prison, trying to make amends with his daughter on a school field trip while his old crew chases them for loot money that's on their bus. The film is produced by WWE studios in another attempt to make a popular kids film and turn another one of their wrestling stars into a household film name. Triple H actually isn't a bad screen presence but as you can probably guess the film is horrible. It's directed by Stephen Herek (who's directed such popular youth films as 'BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE', 'DON'T TELL MOM THE BABYSITTER'S DEAD', 'CRITTERS' and 'THE MIGHTY DUCKS') and written by first time writer S.J. Roth.
As soon as Ray Bradstone (Triple H) is released from prison his old partner Phillip Laure (Kevin Corrigan), who ditched him at the scene of the crime on the job Ray went to prison for, tries to get him in on a new bank heist. Ray wants nothing to do with Laure or his old life of crime and instead wants to bond with his young daughter Sally (Ariel Winter), who he hasn't seen most of her life. Sally wants nothing to do with Ray though and neither does her mother, Ray's ex-wife Lynne (Annabeth Gish). When Ray reluctantly decides to go along with Laure and their team on their latest crime scheme he instead decides to ditch them at the scene of the crime and throws the keys of the vehicle he's supposed to be the getaway driver for. He walks to the school bus directly in front of the bank his team is robbing and takes a position as a school chaperone on the bus instead. While his old crew is scrambling to getaway they accidentally ditch the bag of loot money on the school bus as well. So Laure and one of his goons begin chasing the school bus down in an attempt to get their money back.
The movie's set up is ridiculous and so is every other preposterous scenario in the film. Herek's directing is adequate but the script he has to work with is just bad. Like I said Triple H is a nice screen presence though and his acting isn't bad either, he's actually kind of natural. It would be nice to see him attempt something a little more serious and fitting next time though. The rest of the cast is hit and miss. Corrigan is great, like always, as the movie's lead villain, Yeardly Smith is decent as a school teacher and Ariel Winter gives an impressive performance as the movie's young co-lead. Gish is horrible in the film though and so are most of the other child actors. To be fair though the scenes with Gish are all bad melodrama which is when the movie most suffers. You could say that Arnold Schwarzenegger set the mold for this type of movie (tough guy action star teamed with a kid, or kids) with 1990's 'KINDERGARTEN COP' but actually Sylvester Stallone did it before that with his underrated 'OVER THE TOP' in 1987. Both of those movies are far superior to everything that's followed though (that I can think of, right now at least). While this is better than some (like everything The Rock and Vin Diesel has attempted) it's still no 'KINDERGARTEN COP' (or 'OVER THE TOP' for that matter).
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXu8bs0LI9A
WWE superstar Triple H (also known as Paul Levesque) stars in this family action comedy which could be described as 'DIE HARD' on a kid's school bus! Levesque plays an ex-con, straight out of prison, trying to make amends with his daughter on a school field trip while his old crew chases them for loot money that's on their bus. The film is produced by WWE studios in another attempt to make a popular kids film and turn another one of their wrestling stars into a household film name. Triple H actually isn't a bad screen presence but as you can probably guess the film is horrible. It's directed by Stephen Herek (who's directed such popular youth films as 'BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE', 'DON'T TELL MOM THE BABYSITTER'S DEAD', 'CRITTERS' and 'THE MIGHTY DUCKS') and written by first time writer S.J. Roth.
As soon as Ray Bradstone (Triple H) is released from prison his old partner Phillip Laure (Kevin Corrigan), who ditched him at the scene of the crime on the job Ray went to prison for, tries to get him in on a new bank heist. Ray wants nothing to do with Laure or his old life of crime and instead wants to bond with his young daughter Sally (Ariel Winter), who he hasn't seen most of her life. Sally wants nothing to do with Ray though and neither does her mother, Ray's ex-wife Lynne (Annabeth Gish). When Ray reluctantly decides to go along with Laure and their team on their latest crime scheme he instead decides to ditch them at the scene of the crime and throws the keys of the vehicle he's supposed to be the getaway driver for. He walks to the school bus directly in front of the bank his team is robbing and takes a position as a school chaperone on the bus instead. While his old crew is scrambling to getaway they accidentally ditch the bag of loot money on the school bus as well. So Laure and one of his goons begin chasing the school bus down in an attempt to get their money back.
The movie's set up is ridiculous and so is every other preposterous scenario in the film. Herek's directing is adequate but the script he has to work with is just bad. Like I said Triple H is a nice screen presence though and his acting isn't bad either, he's actually kind of natural. It would be nice to see him attempt something a little more serious and fitting next time though. The rest of the cast is hit and miss. Corrigan is great, like always, as the movie's lead villain, Yeardly Smith is decent as a school teacher and Ariel Winter gives an impressive performance as the movie's young co-lead. Gish is horrible in the film though and so are most of the other child actors. To be fair though the scenes with Gish are all bad melodrama which is when the movie most suffers. You could say that Arnold Schwarzenegger set the mold for this type of movie (tough guy action star teamed with a kid, or kids) with 1990's 'KINDERGARTEN COP' but actually Sylvester Stallone did it before that with his underrated 'OVER THE TOP' in 1987. Both of those movies are far superior to everything that's followed though (that I can think of, right now at least). While this is better than some (like everything The Rock and Vin Diesel has attempted) it's still no 'KINDERGARTEN COP' (or 'OVER THE TOP' for that matter).
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXu8bs0LI9A