Slapdash fluff from
veteran hack director Sidney J. Furie presented as a vehicle for Rodney
Dangerfield. It’s a major step down from
Back to School (1986), but it’s not
unwatchable. Except for some swearing
here and there, it feels like a TV movie, but that might be attributable to
Jakee Harry and the late Jonathan Brandis being in the cast. Classic Rodney gags and one-liners abound but
with no attempt to integrate them into the plot. The other actors just kind of zone out and
stand aside uncomfortably when he goes into one of his routines. Despite being at (or past) retirement age,
for some reason Rodney is portrayed as an up-and-coming junior executive who
finds himself coaching the company’s female soccer team in order to suck up to
his boss. Naturally, the kids win Rodney’s
heart and he goes to bat for them when the boss demands victory at any price. The ace up Rodney’s sleeve – (to mix my
metaphors even further) – is the teenaged son (Brandis) of his implausibly
young finance, who is coerced into playing in drag in order to fit in on the all-girl
team. It’s light and fun for the most
part, but it’s so flimsy that it doesn’t really work except in occasional
spots, particularly in a funny scene where Rodney and Brandis are caught in a
changing room trying on women’s clothes.
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