Review of Kindergarten Cop (1990) by Matthew A — 14 Jul 2009

Kindergarten Cop is probably Arnold Schwarzenegger's best '90s comedy, but for me, that's not saying much because I don't really care for his comedies. The only comedy that I really like is Last Action Hero, and everyone else hates that movie. So from a critical point of view, I maintain a weird position on Arnold's comedies. I enjoy him much more in action movies.

Kindergarten Cop teases you in the beginning with a small parody of Arnold's Terminator-style action movies, and you think that from his entrance that this might actually be a straight action movie. We soon learn after about 10 minutes that this will not be so. The rest of the movie is spent with the kids, with a final 10 minutes that goes back to action (though Arnold doesn't come out of it like he would in one of his more bombastic roles). This might actually be a good thing if you're tired of seeing Arnold get through hundreds of baddies virtually unscathed every time.

As for the kids, for the most part, they're cute and play off of Arnold's size, accent, and menacing (action movie star) persona very well (and Arnold works well with the kids, which he's always been good at, even in real life) and for plenty of comedic effect. However, I'm not really a fan of kid comedies. Even when I was a kid, I didn't get into them as much. They're just a bit too saccharin for my taste, and the filmmakers usually use them too safely. This is in contrast to a movie like Billy Madison, which doesn't play the kids safely at all. As a safe comedy, Kindergarten Cop is fine, though.

And that's pretty much all I can say about this movie. It's fine. Not the best kid comedy, not Arnold's best comedy, but still a passable film, nonetheless.