'Ladybugs'
A peroxided Rodney Dangerfield presses his girlfriend's teenage son into cross-dressing in ''Ladybugs, '' a typical vehicle for the comedian that should duplicate the appeal of his previous efforts. It's amazing how many touchy issues Dangerfield can joke about without ever being offensive, and the comedian's likability is the primary appeal of this low-budget feature.
Dangerfield is Chester Lee, a salesman who needs a raise if he's going to marry his fiancee Bess (Ilene Graff). Desperate to impress his boss, Dave Mullen (Tom Parks), Chester agrees to coach the company-sponsored girls championship soccer team, which turns out to be undergoing a rebuilding year with a bunch of hapless neophytes.
Chester and his secretary Julia (Jackee) try managing from a how-to book with no success and, in desperation, Chester pressures Matthew (Jonathan Brandis), Bess's antagonistic, athletic and androgynous-looking son, into dressing up as a girl and playing on the team.
The film essentially plays out every complication this causes -- Chester even finds himself in drag when he has to rescue Matthew from the team's skinny-dipping pool party -- taking care to assert and reassert Chester and Matthew's heterosexuality along the way (Matthew is in love with one of his teammates, Mullen's daughter Kim, played by Vinessa Shaw).
The action occasionally comes to a complete halt while Dangerfield does a mini-standup routine, and the comedian has an uncanny knack of milking laughs from even the most familiar gags. He is a fine identification figure for suburban everyman, trying to grab a modest piece of the pie while trying to hold on to the last, torn shreds of his dignity.
Still, the film has some weird, if unspoken, sexual implications. Every man in the film is intimidated by women and the cross-dressing scenes have a panicky tone. Most of this is buried by the laughs, but it's there all the same.
LADYBUGS
PARAMOUNT
A Ruddy & Morgan Production
Producers Albert S. Ruddy, Andre E. Morgan
Director Sidney J. Furie
Writer Curtis Burch
Director of photography Dan Burstall
Production designer Robb Wilson King
Editors John W. Wheeler, A.C.E., Timothy N. Board
Music Richard Gibbs
Casting Mike Fenton, C.S.A., Valorie Massalas
Color/Dolby
Chester Lee Rodney Dangerfield
Julie Benson Jackee
Matthew Jonathan Brandis
Bess Ilene Graff
Kimberly Vinessa Shaw
Dave Mullen Jeanetta Arnette
Running time -- 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Dangerfield is Chester Lee, a salesman who needs a raise if he's going to marry his fiancee Bess (Ilene Graff). Desperate to impress his boss, Dave Mullen (Tom Parks), Chester agrees to coach the company-sponsored girls championship soccer team, which turns out to be undergoing a rebuilding year with a bunch of hapless neophytes.
Chester and his secretary Julia (Jackee) try managing from a how-to book with no success and, in desperation, Chester pressures Matthew (Jonathan Brandis), Bess's antagonistic, athletic and androgynous-looking son, into dressing up as a girl and playing on the team.
The film essentially plays out every complication this causes -- Chester even finds himself in drag when he has to rescue Matthew from the team's skinny-dipping pool party -- taking care to assert and reassert Chester and Matthew's heterosexuality along the way (Matthew is in love with one of his teammates, Mullen's daughter Kim, played by Vinessa Shaw).
The action occasionally comes to a complete halt while Dangerfield does a mini-standup routine, and the comedian has an uncanny knack of milking laughs from even the most familiar gags. He is a fine identification figure for suburban everyman, trying to grab a modest piece of the pie while trying to hold on to the last, torn shreds of his dignity.
Still, the film has some weird, if unspoken, sexual implications. Every man in the film is intimidated by women and the cross-dressing scenes have a panicky tone. Most of this is buried by the laughs, but it's there all the same.
LADYBUGS
PARAMOUNT
A Ruddy & Morgan Production
Producers Albert S. Ruddy, Andre E. Morgan
Director Sidney J. Furie
Writer Curtis Burch
Director of photography Dan Burstall
Production designer Robb Wilson King
Editors John W. Wheeler, A.C.E., Timothy N. Board
Music Richard Gibbs
Casting Mike Fenton, C.S.A., Valorie Massalas
Color/Dolby
Chester Lee Rodney Dangerfield
Julie Benson Jackee
Matthew Jonathan Brandis
Bess Ilene Graff
Kimberly Vinessa Shaw
Dave Mullen Jeanetta Arnette
Running time -- 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 3/28/1992
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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