Júnior

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.

Movies are strange things. Some are high art and some are just guilty entertainment. Except at extremes of greatness and trash people and especially reviewers will seldom agree on how good (well made ,entertaining, socially significant, whatever) a movie is. I happen to love this movie for many of the same reasons stated in the positive reviews above. In reading through many of the external reviews I am amazed how many of the reviewers, especially important reviewers from major newspapers, just don't get it . Then read Roger Ebert's review. I didn't always agree with his reviews (sometimes it seemed like we hadn't even seen the same movie) but the vast majority of the time he got it right, and this was one of those times.

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.

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.

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?