Review of Clifford (1994) by Steve P — 07 Mar 2016

NOTE: This film was recommended to me by Matthew Craker for "Steve Pulaski Sees It.".

Despite still functioning in as a comedy with "maximum antics and minimum laughter," a label I like to put on comedies that have a lot going on but little of it turns into serviceable, humorous comedy, Clifford is still a film that's pretty original. Levied by its strong central performance by Martin Short, who's grating and as insufferable as he should be, and with the scale almost effectively balanced out by an initially mellow and progressively fiery Charles Grodin, the film walks a fine line between chaos and restraint in its narrative. You get to appreciate certain cinematic graces like this overtime, especially when you're trying to salvage something out of a film you sort of can't wait to get through watching.

Clifford is miles from being a good film, but it is an occasionally fun and charming film, with glimmers of joy eking through its almost entirely unlikable premise. The film revolves around its titular character, played by Martin Short at his most chaotic; a destructive, menacing, and spoiled brat of a ten-year-old who carries around his toy dinosaur everywhere he goes and dreams of going to the themepark Dinosaur World in California. While on a flight to Hawaii with his parents, the plane makes an emergency landing in Los Angeles because of Clifford's rowdy behavior, leaving his mother and father stranded without a way to get to his father's important conference.

His father decides to dump Clifford off with his Uncle Martin and his fiancee Sarah (Charles Grodin and Mary Steenburgen) at their home in Los Angeles while both him and his wife catch another flight to Hawaii. Initially, this seems like a dream for Martin, for his wife has been wanting to see how he interacts with kids since she wants kids of their home. However, Clifford isn't your average kid by any means. He's the kind that you cannot leave unattended for more than five minutes or else your home, your possessions, and your life will be in shambles.

Clifford winds up making life a living hell for Uncle Martin, going as far as to ruin an important business meeting, in addition to embarrassing him in front of clients among other things, all while Sarah doesn't believe a boy so innocuous could ever be up to no good. If nothing else, the film itself is a testament to the real comedic talent and energy of Martin Short, who, at 44 at the time this film was made, plays a convincing ten-year-old menace, with no social tact or grace whatsoever. His rambunctious nature as a performer contrasts beautifully with a more reserved Charles Grodin, the recipient of the chaos, in such a way that the two work off of one another in an admirable manner that often insights some good conversational banter.

The problem is getting a scene where it's solely the two actors and no other intrusions in the way of situational humor or other presences occur. The defining scene between the two is when Martin scolds Clifford for making his life a living hell and embarrassing him at the aforementioned luncheon. The scene is one of the few where there is literally nothing besides Grodin, Short, and the matter at hand (if you don't count Clifford's toy dinosaur), and because of it, the screenwriters have time to regain their composure and march on accordingly before diving into more ridiculous antics.

With that, Clifford is, at the very least, an interesting film, despite boasting the "maximum antics, minimum laughter" idea of their being a lot going on narratively, but little occurring in a comedic sense. Cut out Short's energetic performance and Grodin's restraint and what you have remaining is a film that has difficultly standing on its own two legs thanks to a feeble and overall redundant premise that, like the character, breeds little more than contempt by the time it's over.

Starring: Martin Short, Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Kind, and Jennifer Savidge. Directed by: Paul Flaherty.