Junior (1994) / Review by Tumor

Dr. Larry Arbogast : "Let's put a bun in your oven"

By Ivan Reitman
With Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito and Emma Thompson

For a while, one of my favorite YouTube videos to see was Arnold Schwarzenegger's top quotes. It's hilarious but I only knew half of the movies in there, so I started doing some catching up on his filmography. It came down to his collaborations with Ivan Reitman, first with Kindergarten Cop, then Twins and finally Junior.

Junior tells the story of two fertility scientists who pair for a project, but when their project is denied experimentation on human subjects, Alex (Schwarzenegger) decides to go back to his native Austria... But Larry (DeVito) convinces him to keep the experimentation going, except they would do it under the radar.

Ivan Reitman strikes back in the vein of Twins, the genetic sci-fi related comedy. The duo Schwarzenegger-DeVito works just as well here, as much as the mere fact that they were twins in Twins, the idea of seeing Arnold pregnant is already a funny prospect. A lot of the laughing moments come from common (mis)conceptions and stereotypes but it never falls in the grotesque. It is definitely lighthearted but the down times are few. Arnold does a great job at actually being convincingly pregnant and not just a guy with a swollen belly. As usual with Reitman's comedies, everything ends well and happily.

I liked: The main cast duo. The food binging and hormonal, over-the-top reactions. The fact that it stays away from becoming either a satire or a parody. The seriousness about the absurdity of such a situation. Avoids any type of scientific justification.

I disliked: The cast outside of the two main actors doesn't really bring anything to the movie. The attempt at mystery (mainly carried through by the University looking into their business) never really brings any suspense and could have potentially been toned down to allow more characters development.

59/100
It's not a must see and it's not your laughing out loud comedy, but it's entertaining and it doesn't disappoint in that regard. The director and main actors work on the same line. If you enjoy Arnold (or his accent) see this at some point, not necessarily first though.