Junior

This film is one of the strangest films I've ever seen, and I've seen some pretty strange movies (Attack of the Killer Banana anyone?). Although extremely strange, it's funny, in only a way the director of Ghostbusters could make it. Arnold's explanation of why he's so ugly in drag is hilarious. Emma Thompson gives a particuarly good role by Danny DeVito. Worth a rental, if not a buy.

Arnold Schwarzenegger gets pregnant. That's about it. The premise is ridiculous, the twists and turns in the plot are mind-bogglingly stupid and every joke is predictable and hammered at you--but I still like this film! The script does have it's moments, but the performances really carry this one.

Arnie is suprisingly very funny when he becomes pregnant (when asks DeVito in all seriousness "Does my body disgust you?" I broke up); DeVito is just along for the ride but is good--he's the straight man to Arnie; Emma Thompson is just gorgeous, very funny and full of life as a clumsy scientist. Also Judy Collins (yes, the singer) pops up looking radiant as the head of a center for pregnant women. Everything looks wonderful and the film is slickly made to cater the the audience. I usually hate films like that, but this worked. The only bad part is Pamela Reed--she's a wonderful actress and comediene but she's shamefully underused--she doesn't get any good funny scenes till the end. Also, where else will you see Arnie in a dress?

It's a one joke film. Is it a good film? No. Do I like it? Very much. Call it a guilty favorite.

One complaint--at 2 hours it's too long. Couldn't it have been trimmed a little?

This movie is about a male scientist that, for a scientific experiment, agrees to carry a pregnancy in his own body (!). And while his colleague's former wife is also pregnant, he also befriends a nurse (and hilarious situations follows).

Personally I found the movie funny at times. I'll say to the haters ''Come on folks it's a comedy''. But I'll explain the reasons why I didn't rated this movie higher than 5. And it's better than the overall rating of 4,6 would suggest.

The pros: Schwarzenegger, DeVito and Emma Thompson were the strong point of the movie, they did the best with the material they were given. I liked especially the scene when Arnold ends in drag at a clinic specialized in pregnancy, and some weeks later along with DeVito and Emma rush to the hospital along with DeVito's wife.

The cons: The concept of a pregnant man can disturb many sensible persons, and I personally felt queasy about the subject matter. Thanks to the nightmare scene (although many wouldn't agree with me, I found it very funny). And the villain, played by Frank Langella, it's not a very believable villain, as he is defeated easily.

However I found the movie funny and likeable, but in some points shallow and silly. But this is not always a bad thing, like in this case.

Dr Alex Hesse and Dr Larry Arbogast are working on researching a drug that will reduce the symptoms of pregnancy and reduce the chances of sickness and miscarriages. But when the FAA reject their project the programme is cancelled. However Dr Arbogast convinces Hesse that the research can go ahead if a willing subject can be found – step forward Dr Hesse!

Hey – lets try and redo the success of Twins. Twins was an one-joke movie so lets do that again! Etc! Here the plot can be kindly described as stupid and it's sheer daftness is difficult to get past. The film deals with any moral issues that may spoil the laughs by, well, completely ignoring them. Babies for the sake of science is a touchy point – yet this happily just ploughs in! It does have a few amusing moments – mostly seeing Arnie play totally against type by being pregnant and emotional etc.

Schwarzenegger is good and plays well against his action hero personae but this one joke is difficult to stretch to the whole film and the laughs don't come as frequently as you'd hope. DeVito is underused and his motormouth routine that served him well in Twins is not really brought into play apart from a few early scenes. The biggest let down is to see Emma Thompson playing a dipsy blonde who falls over etc. Outside of this the only interest is a non- speaking role for Meloni (Oz) and a Sopranos regular.

Overall this is an one-joke film and it's not that funny a joke. It's amusing to see Arnie out of his usual action role but really it needed more to make it funnier.

The humor in this film lies in its premise. If you don't know what it's about, I won't bother spelling it out for you. But it's pretty ridiculous. The jokes themselves are hit-or-miss. Some land fine but most miss the mark.

Schwarzenegger and DeVito of course are good together, but the writing could have been better. This film never lets up with the ridiculousness, which is nice, but if only it could have been more funny. Of course it's a classic, but it's still hard to sit through if you're not in the mood. Do not recommend.