You are shocked aren’t you as I have gone against the popular opinion and put this John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, George Segal and Bruce Willis flix an 82% and I will explain why at the end but I fell I am alone with this view. The critics I reference gave this less than 60 points so I am out on a limb here and I guess I will be with the next movie as well. IMDb gave this one a 5.9 out of 10 where the guys and gals at Rotten Tomatoes gave it 56%. This was released in 1989 when I was well into my teens and I have to admit I enjoyed it and the lunch joke stuck in my teenage mind as well. It was produced on a budget of small budget of $7.5m and went on to return $297m from the box-office. It was a success whichever way you look at it. Shall I give you the plot of this comedy then?
Mollie is an accountant who is sleeping with Albert a womanising executive who is already married with two kids. He has been stringing her along with promises of leaving his wife for her but to the audience this seems like an obvious lie. When Mollie falls pregnant this takes their relationship in a whole new direction. Its at this stage that we meet Mike her baby growing in the womb who the audience can hear his thoughts as he grows and plays in her belly. Close to the end of the pregnancy she accidently bumps into Albert who is having another affair with another woman. Mollie is upset and leaves and instantly goes into labour. She calls a cab to get to the hospital and is picked up by James who recklessly speeds through town to get the hospital before the birth. He inadvertently is a witness at the birth and then finding her address starts using her address for mailing to be able to get his grandfather into a nicer care home. Mollie catches him and agrees to the deception if he baby sits for Mike. Mike is now a growing baby but we can still hear his thoughts and the funny lines are read by the very adult voice of Bruce Willis. James and Mollie are growing closer together despite her concerns about his attitude to life and her trying to date other men. Anyway the story is just about there.
This is a very short story really with the panic ending where all the worry was ok as everyone and everything works out ok in the end. This is like so many other Hollywood comedy movies where there is a theme running through the movie with an issue at the end that puts everyone at risk but by concluding this newly introduced issue the movie can end on a high note. Yeah! OK I am really not selling this high score for a poor movie thing yet am I? Well there is a reason for that and that’s because its not a poor movie. Its an upbeat happy movie that is very funny whether you are still a kid and can relate to Mikey’s thoughts while the adults can too but also see the adults motivations are coming from. It is a fast and funny movie and sometimes that is exactly what you need. You don’t need the complex storylines and entwined characters that as a viewer you are trying to unpick just to feel rewarded for giving it your time. Sometimes you just want to switch your brain into neutral and let something just wash over you and trust me you can do a lot worse than this movie. This is another fun time 80’s movie that brings me back to my younger and healthier days without a care in the world but this is a fun good time movie that doesn’t offend anyone despite Kirstie Alley being in it! And how can anyone not like a movie when there is an actor called Twink in it!
If you have just read all that then imagine the polar opposite of that movie as we move up a step in percentage and move to a very random sci-fi horror with a complete mystery from start to finish…
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