Meatballs III: Summer Job

I can't believe the myriad of negative comments and reviews I've seen for "Meatballs III". It, like most other Canadian summer-camp movies, are meant to provide cheap laughs in a stupid way and weren't really made for people to analyze the plot, character development, etc. If you don't like sophomoric humor, then you should have known better than to watch it in the first place. Not everybody likes the trite, dry, boring humor of typical big-production films. Movies like "Meatballs III" provide relief from such ennui.

I remember seeing "Meatballs III" on USA back around 1990, and have loved it since, especially because back then I was still a teenager and this is the kind of movie that a teenage boy would probably like. I remember while watching it my mom came downstairs and told me to turn off "that garbage", and I liked it even more.

On a side note, there was an episode of SNL (when Jeff Goldblum hosted) in 1993 where David Spade, as Karl the video store clerk, recommends "Meatballs III" to Rob Schneider. Of course I had to laugh at that.

Sally Kellerman has been in some good stuff ("Serial", "Foxes", "The Boston Strangler").

Then there's "Meatballs III"...and this stuff ain't good.

You see, Kellerman plays a deceased porn star whose only ticket into heaven is to help a hopeless nerd (Dempsey) lose his virginity at summer camp.

This is a Canadian tax write-off (as if you couldn't tell from Waxman in the credits) and it shows from the writing right down to the witless sight gags (dropping trou here is as sophisticated as it gets). Don't get all huffy, now: I like Canadian movies as much as the next guy, but not when they're this stupid.

What else can you say about a movie that under-utilizes Shannon Tweed as much as this one does?

Nothing good, that's for sure.

No stars for this one. Maybe someone should write Jason Voorhees to move to this camp.... Anyone got his address?

Rudy Gerner (Patrick Dempsey) gets a summer job in upstate New York at a river "resort" on the St. Lawrence River wherein a strange woman (Sally Kellerman) helps him with his pursuits of the fairer sex.

"Meatballs III: Summer Job" was shot in the summer of 1984, but not released until early 1987 due to the difficulty of apprehending a distributer after the box office failure of "Meatballs Part II" (1984). Of the three sequels this is the only one with connections to the original 1979 film in that Rudy, the mentee of Tripper (Bill Murray), is 2-3 years older and focused on girls. Tripper doesn't appear in this one, but Rudy reads a letter from him.

The flick is a mixture of the original "Meatballs" with the goofiness and biker gang of the beach party films of the '60s, plus the raunchiness of "Porky's" (1981). It's that last part that ruins the movie for me, although it's thankfully not AS crude. In short, this is "Meatballs" minus the innocence. Another negative is the eye-rolling competition involving bedding the marina owner's woman upstairs (Shannon Tweed).

Nevertheless, Dempsey makes for a quality protagonist and the subplot of the porn star (Kellerman) having to come back from the other side to do a genuine good deed is amusing, reminiscent of the quirkiness of a Woody Allen flick. Moreover, the coming-of-age element is compelling.

There are several nubile females with winsome Isabelle Mejias playing the girl interested in Rudy, Wendy. For a superior movie featuring Isabelle, check out the similar "State Park" (1988).

The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Hudson, Quebec, with some stuff done west of there in Ontario.

GRADE: C.

Yes, it being the summer is the only thing that remotely ties this film to the first two movies. That being said I did enjoy this movie more than part two, however, you can see by my score of four that I still did not like this movie overall. It had potential and I think its low score here of 2.8 has a lot to do with the fact it tries to pass itself off as a sequel to a set of movies it has nothing remotely in common with. However, that being said overall it was still a poor comedy with the typical teen sex comedy plot...guy wants to lose virginity. The twist, a ghost of a porn star must try and help him. Of course, my question is why does he need help? He is pals with a cute girl who would obviously be more than willing to have sex with him, I mean she is watching a porno with him. Still, if it were that easy there would be no movie. However, that may have been a good thing in this case. Still, it has a couple of good comedy moments and far less groan inducing humor than part two (though it has its fair share as well). So there you have it, we go from family oriented comedy to a teen sex romp in three films.

You know how many actors start off in their crappy first movie. This is Patrick Dempsey's first crappy movie. This is strictly for the undemanding comedy viewer or the undemanding viewer of any genre. He really started off in this bomb of embarrassment. Here's the plot, where's girls raise Dempsey's anatomy more than laughs in a fizzer of a film. Dempsey is a nerd, going to work on his summer break, heading to a popular seaside spot, which is anything but glamorous. You should check out his living arrangements, for this mean owner, Gene, has taken over this pub and gas business, where Dempsey's pumping more than boat fuel. At the start where he's p...k teased by a couple of girls, we see this laughing stock later on re-invents himself thanks to a magical force, Sally Kellerman, only visible to Dempsey of course. She has to him improve his chances with girls otherwise her wish won't be granted at the pearly gates on heaven. So, dressed the part and a confidence man, he ends up with these hot babes and sends other guys flying through the room or busting tables without hardly laying a finger on them. As if? But in the end he realizes his real love was there in front of him all the time. This is a very corny Meatballs that hit video shelves in back 87, where it should of hit the back of cars or trucks. It's a lame comedy, guaranteed hardly any laughs, but I guess if your a Dempsey fan, who followed a string of similar teen sex films that were way indeed, better, this might be worth the watch to see how this good actor started off. And if you don't like it, there's always the remote nearby. A little joke, Gene's wife, (no not Gene Simmons, the character Gene) Shannon Tweed who's kept like a prisoner upstairs, has a faux intercourse scene with Dempsey, the only redeeming moment of this trash.