Arrête, ou ma mère va tirer!

Every living person on earth should see this movie. Not because its good and worth watching, but because it is so awful. The reason why everyone should watch this movie is so that you have a measuring stick for judging just how bad a movie is. For example, your buddy says "Man that Jim Carey movie 'The Majestic,' was the worst movie ever made!" And you can be like, "No man, have you ever seen 'Stop or My Mom Will Shoot? I mean don't get me wrong 'The Majestic' sucked, but its no 'Stop or my Mom Will Shoot.'" Then your friend will be like "Oh yeah man, your right. I totally forgot about 'Stop or My Mom Will Shoot!' I guess I had blocked out that painful memory." Also you can be telling your friend like "Hey, 'The Core' sucked." They can be like "No surprise there. How bad did it suck?" You can be like "I'd say its about one 'Majestic' above 'Stop or my Mom Will Shoot!'" Your friend, "Man, thats pretty bad."

Sylvester Stallone is an iconic action star and Estelle Getty was a hilarious, sarcastic and witty Golden Girl. Put the two together and you'll get yourself one charming action-comedy, where tough Los Angeles cop Sgt. Joe Bomowski (Stallone) gets a visit from his nurturing, feisty and fearless mother Tutti (Getty), who beings to meddle in Joe's life affairs, interfering with his police work and love life.

There are some very oddball and corny humor with some campy dialog in the movie, at mostly the expense of Stallone and Getty. The supporting actors were given the back burner and the villains were forgettable. And yet, while the plot goes at a very steady-pace with limited action, I've found the comedic chemistry between Stallone and Getty, which make up most of the movie, to be pretty entertaining and fun to watch and is, at times, heartwarming. Getty's obsessive behavior to be very baby-nurturing to Stallone as he responds in his frustrated way is itself classic. And, it's not everyday you see a petite, motherly, 68 year-old lady brandish a gun and deal with gangsters!

While not an action flick that would blow you out of your seats, you will get several laughs out of this movie.

Grade B-

She is ...fabulous. And her chemistry with Stallone works in splendid way. A comedy in which the actors are more, more importants than the story. Not only because the plot is, in essence, a skinny sketch, but because each performance gives the great perspective about familiar aspects. A film about motherhood and a beautiful proof for the high skills of Sylvester Stallone for comedy. One of films who you adore. Scene by scene. Crazy, touching, seductive, lovely. And the fine occasion for Estelle Geetty to use her large experience in the roles of mother for a memorable comedy, having, fortunatelly, the ideal partner.

Los Angeles police detective Joe Bomowski isn't as tough as he looks. He's actually quite vulnerable, if you look at his romantic relationship with Lt. Gwen Harper. And his mother is coming from Newark for a visit. This time, she didn't answer the phone, figuring it would be Joe telling her why she couldn't come.

So when Joe arrives at the airport to pick her up, everyone is laughing at him. Even flight attendants. They've all seen the photos and heard the embarrassing stories. And on the way to his house, Joe has to help a man who is threatening to jump from a tall building. Don't worry--one of the classic moments in the history of comedy movies guarantees a happy outcome here.

And Joe's mom witnesses a murder. This is after she has cleaned his apartment, pleaded with him not to do anything dangerous, and done everything else possible to make him feel like a second-grader. But she won't let anyone work on the case except her son--which also means she has to be his partner! How is this possible? She's so tough she won't let anyone scare her with threats of arrest for providing false information to the police. And Joe's mom can do it all! Watch her drive the car in a chase scene. And the movie's title is a line spoken by her son to a suspect.

The amazing thing is that when he was 13, Joe was the strong one when his father died. So his mom knows what he is capable of. Her explanation of how he handled the situation gives the movie one of its several tender moments.

I shouldn't have listened when people said this film was bad. I would have seen it so much sooner. Estelle Getty was great, and while Sylvester Stallone didn't seem quite suited to this type of role, he was good enough. I liked the character. But, yes, he can do comedy. Remember "Oscar"? I remember I liked him in that.

I liked several other performances. Dennis Burkley as the big tough gun salesman (the one with the van), and Nicholas Sadler as the man on the ledge (I thought he was one of the Lawrence brothers!). And as always, Gailard Sartain as a big buffoon of a bad guy. And JoBeth Williams as Gwen. I can't forget her.

This is my kind of movie, and while it's obviously not Oscar material, it's quite entertaining.

IMDb averaging 4/10? No way! This is great fun. Sly is a tough but fair cop living a bachelor lifestyle whose minuscule mother comes to stay with him. In no time she's trying to 'improve' him with motherly advice, improve his diet and get him back together with his lady love. It never dips into sentimentality or become too serious, and is a quality, well-paced production in general.

Happening to catch this on TV recently, I'd long forgotten that Sly can not only act when he wants to, but has excellent comic timing. (He really should have not spent so much time trying to be an action hero, but explored his dramatic and comic abilities). There are some really good moments, such as when his mom squares up to a sly villain threatening her son and comes out with a catchphrase of Sly's real-life rival Arnie Schwartzenegger.

The only criticism I'd give is that toward the end a slightly laborious car chase is thrown in, but thankfully the comedy returns as his interfering mom steps in again. Good entertainment, and it really, really deserves at least a couple of stars more on the IMDb rating.