Junior (1994)

As part of a fertility research project, a male scientist agrees to carry a pregnancy in his own body.

Director:

Ivan Reitman

Writers:

Kevin Wade, Chris Conrad

Stars:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Emma Thompson

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Dr. Alex Hesse
Danny DeVito	...	Dr. Larry Arbogast
Emma Thompson	...	Dr. Diana Reddin
Frank Langella	...	Noah Banes
Pamela Reed	...	Angela
Aida Turturro	...	Louise
James Eckhouse	...	Ned Sneller
Megan Cavanagh	...	Willow
Welker White	...	Jenny
Kathleen Chalfant	...	Casitas Madres Receptionist
Merle Kennedy	...	Samantha
Judy Collins	...	Naomi
Mindy Seeger	...	Alice
Christopher Meloni	...	Mr. Lanzarotta
Antoinette Peragine	...	Mrs. Lanzarotta

Storyline

Alex Hesse and Larry Arbogast are working on a new drug which will reduce the chances of a woman's body rejecting an embryo and thus causing a miscarriage. When their research funding is withdrawn, and human experimentation is denied to them, they decide to test the drug by breifly impregnating Hesse. Hesse however becomes attached to "his" unborn baby.

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Plot Keywords:

nightmare | scientist | baby | pregnancy | fertility | 

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Taglines:

Nothing is inconceivable

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sex-related humor

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 November 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jaunelis

Filming Locations:

Gold Ballroom, Biltmore Hotel - 506 S. Grand Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$36,763,355

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$108,431,355

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Northern Lights Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo DTS Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Out of all the films Ivan Reitman has made with Arnold Schwarzenegger, he has cited Junior (1994) as not his best, but his favourite.

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Goofs

Larry and Diana claim that the famous physician Edward Jenner tested the smallpox vaccine on himself. Actually, he first tested it on a boy named James Phipps.

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Quotes

Noah Baines: Let me shake hands with the man who would be Mom.

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Alternate Versions

On video/DVD, there are numerous swear words including Jesus, Shit and Bastard. When shown on TV these words are either replaced by other lines or cut completely.

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Connections

Referenced in Brickleberry: Baby Daddy (2014)

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Soundtracks

Look What Love Has Done
Written by Carole Bayer Sager, James Newton Howard, James Ingram and Patty Smyth
Performed by Patty Smyth
Produced by James Newton Howard
Patty Smyth Appears Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.

User Reviews

A surprisingly clever and heart-warming family comedy.

Hey here's something interesting. If you type "Junior" in to Google, the first hit is this movie, but if you type it in to the IMDb, the first hit is George W. Bush. I just thought that was funny.

So by 1994, Schwarzenegger had just done a series of pretty hardcore action movies – Terminator 2, Last Action Hero (shut up, that movie rocked), and True Lies – so I'm really curious to know who came up with the idea of making a movie in which he gets pregnant and carries a baby to term. Yeah, Last Action Hero and especially Kindergarten Cop showed the world that Arnold was a big action movie star that was not above having a little fun with himself, but a pregnancy??

Amazingly enough, however, the movie is much better than you might think. He stars as Dr. Alex Hesse, a scientist working on a new formula that will help create successful pregnancies for women having trouble conceiving. But the problem is that they are unable to get authorization to perform necessary tests so, desperate to prove that their formula works, Hesse and his partner Dr. Larry Arbogast decide to create a pregnancy in Hesse – the world's first pregnant man!

They do not, however have any intention of allowing the pregnancy to go on for more than a month or a month and a half, they just need to prove that their formula works. I am reminded of that scene in Terminator 2 when they are all at Miles Dyson's house and Sarah is telling Dyson that men like him through of the hydrogen bomb and they only know how to create destruction, they have no idea what it's like to feel a life growing inside you. In Junior, Hesse learns what it's like to have a life growing inside him, and tat life becomes more important to him than the science experiment that he and Arbogast were carrying out.

There is a cleverly designed side story about Arbogast's ex-wife carrying a baby that resulted in a one-night stand after an Aerosmith concert, but the majority of the comedy in the movie is derived from Schwarzenegger literally not only turning into a woman, but poking fun at his real life self. When he goes to a pregnancy retreat dressed as a woman, he explains his manly performance by stating that back in "her" native Germany, she was a body-builder and excessive steroid use was considered perfectly common and acceptable. He experiences all of the ups and downs of being pregnant, but no matter how outlandish the premise is, there is no denying that the movie is definitely pretty charming.

It was great to see Schwarzeneggger and Danny DeVito together again after their classic work together in Twins several years earlier. Once again, they have come together and brought us a great piece of family entertainment.