Kindergarten Cop (1990)

 Kindergarten Cop (1990)

Can you imagine if Arnold Schwarzenegger was your elementary school teacher? His bulging muscles and thick Austrian accent is just too much for me to handle in my thoughts comparing him to any number of my teachers. Ivan Reitman's Kindergarten Cop is the reason why I had such thoughts in the first place. I did not find Reitman's film to a necessarily great movie but does tend to be entertaining and even heartwarming at times. It is important for parents to note that little children will be scared of some events that happen despite its PG-rating. I know, as a child, that scene where the father slapped the child in the face gave me a few nightmares. This role is a complete reversal of what someone would expect in a Schwarzenegger film. In addition to the action, he proves that he has skilled comedic timing and the ability to act well around children. I believe this performance opened up new doors in his Hollywood career.

Coming off the major success of both Ghostbusters films, this movie was a peculiar choice for Ivan Reitman. Then again, Reitman has a knack of matching the absurd with the heartwarming to some wild results. The script, written by Murray Salem, Herschel Weingrod, and Timothy Harris, has many absurd and heartwarming moments that play to Reitman's directing sensibilities. I do think there is a fine line here that may have been crossed several times. Who is this movie for? Adults or for children? There were times where I felt the filmmakers really didn't know, so it felt jarring at times. On that point, I have mixed feelings about the villains. If this was any action/comedy from the same era, the villains would have been really lame (and kind of are despite committed performances). Yet, children will be terrified by the mother/son villainous duo. I also was as a child.

John Kimble (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a veteran LAPD detective whose mission is to find the elusive drug king Cullen Crisp (Richard Tyson) and his mother (Carroll Baker) and put them in prison. He and his partner, Phoebe (Pamela Reed) are assigned to go after him in Oregon when it was discovered his ex-wife and son ran away with three million dollars in drug money. Phoebe was supposed to go undercover as a substitute teacher but fell ill with food poisoning...leaving Kimble as the only choice. Not only does he have to solve this case...he must deal with a bunch of five-year-olds. Can he survive as a teacher? On top of that, he falls for fellow schoolteacher Joyce (Penelope Ann Miller). Can he keep his undercover role secret?

I am sure people were surprised with Schwarzenegger's performance. We see him doing his action scenes fans are accustomed to, but there is also a tenderness that has not been seen before. And he shows he can do good work in comedy. My favorite scenes are when he whips the class in shape when he uses police tactics...but in a harmless way. The other actors do decent, if not forgettable. Penelope Ann Miller is solid as Arnold's love interest. She has an interesting backstory, and it was developed well.

Kindergarten Cop is certainly not going to be the best film on Ivan Reitman's filmography. Yet for all its troubles, the overall product is heartwarming and has Schwarzenegger doing something he has never done before. I think enough people got behind that. In fact, the actor wasn't going to do the film unless Reitman directed. I loved this movie as a child despite scary moments but there are themes (albeit mature) that people can relate to. As an adult who dabbled in the teaching profession, there is enough material that I found funny. This is the definition of a crowd-pleaser.

My Grade: B-