Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 3, 1993 TAG: 9307030070
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fans of Pauly Shore are the obvious audience, but even those who don't care for his brand of humor may be surprised. This sloppy little movie has some moments.
The film is a vehicle for Shore's flaky on-screen persona: the fey, guileless free spirit who speaks in strange jargon. This time out, he's a professional college student from LA who finds himself spending Thanksgiving vacation with a farm family in South Dakota.
The story actually begins when Rebecca (Carla Gugino) graduates from her rural high school and heads off to college in the big city. Her squabbling family - father (Lane Smith), mother (Cindy Pickett) and obnoxious little brother (Patrick Zenna) - accompanies her and, of course, they embarrass her horribly.
In turn, they are astonished by what they see in Rebecca's rowdy coed dorm, and their minds are not put at ease when they meet the resident adviser, Crawl (Shore). But once the family goes back home, he and Rebecca become friends. Unfortunately, that's the best part of "Son-In-Law." As long as the story stays focused on these two altogether different characters, it's interesting and surprising.
When it moves back to South Dakota, it becomes a standard city-boy-on-the-farm comedy involving chickens, combines, cow pies and the like. Some of those jokes work, but more of them fall flat, and all are familiar. Oddly for a Disney film, much of the humor has to do with sex; giggling, adolescent sex.
Overall, director Steve Rash handles the action well enough, but nothing on screen here matches his debut, "The Buddy Holly Story." Six writers get credit for the story and screenplay. Doubtless, all those fingerprints account for the film's patchwork quality.
Moviegoers in the market for big laugh-packed comedy will have to look elsewhere. The Shore contingent and those interested in lighter-weight summer fluff can take up the slack for "Son- In-Law."
\ Son-In-Law: ** A Hollywood Pictures release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View Mall 6 theaters. 93 min. Rated PG-13 for sexual humor, strong language.
by CNB