Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 2, 1994 TAG: 9404020142
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If there's anything less funny than an evil child, then it's an adult playing an evil child.
That's the premise underlying "Clifford," a toxic comedy that wastes considerable talent. The jokes aren't funny, the characters are neither believable nor likeable, and the film gets off to a rocky start jumping in and out and in and out of a flash forward to the year 2050.
The clunking script was written by Jay Dee Rock and Bobby Von Hayes, and director Paul Flaherty gave it no help at all. He also allowed his star Martin Short to indulge in every scenery-chewing excess imaginable. He makes Jerry Lewis, at his telethonic worst, appear dignified and restrained. His co-stars hit their marks, say their lines and make it through the film with their reputations intact.
The contrived mess of a plot places the wicked 10-year-old Clifford (Martin Short) in the care of his long-suffering Uncle Martin (Charles Grodin) who hopes to impress his fiancee (Mary Steenburgen) with his love of children. But Clifford wants to go to Dinosaurworld. When Martin's boss (Dabney Coleman) forces him to work late, delaying their trip, Clifford begins to scheme.
The rest of the film is a series of annoying set pieces in which Clifford inflicts various humiliations on the adults. It all winds up with a big finish at Dinosaurworld, but a recent screening was interrupted by a power outage, and so I, for one, may never learn how it turned out.
Some days, you get lucky.
Clifford *
An Orion release playing at the Salem Valley 8. 90 min. Rated PG for some profanity, mild violence.
by CNB