BIG TOP PEE-WEE
A film review by Lawrence E. Evans
Copyright 1988 Lawrence E. Evans
Directed by Randal Kleiser Produced by Paul Reubens & Debra Hill Screenplay by Paul Reubens & ? Director of Photography, Steven Poster Paramount Studios 85 Minutes
Short Plot Summary
"Pee-Wee Herman had a farm, E I E I O," Pee-Wee now lives on a farm, and takes care of several animals, including a talking pig named Vance. He is engaged to the local school teacher, a pretty virginal blonde who loves egg salad. When the circus lands in Pee-Wee's back yard, he is quickly adopted by the circus people. Pee-Wee falls in love with the beautiful Trapeze Girl and has to decide between the school teacher and her.
Being a big Pee-Wee fan, I've been anxiously waiting for the release of his new movie. Unfortunately, I was disappointed, maybe I expected so much more. The first 30 to 40 minutes of the film is by far the best; these are scenes where Pee-Wee deals his everyday life: the farm, the farm animals, the townfolks, his fiancee, etc. The scenes work because the focus is on Pee-Wee; it's when the film breaks away to the circus people and their problems that it loses interest.
Pee-Wee's comedies always seems to work when he surrounds himself with characters sillier and more absurd than himself, in doing this, we the audience can relate to him and discover our own peculiarities. In BIG TOP PEE-WEE, he breaks away from this formula too much and as a result the audience looses interest. Kris Kristofferson (sic) plays his scenes so straight that Pee-Wee has trouble playing off him; it doesn't appear to be any chemistry between Pee-Wee and the other characters. In PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, every character was so absurd and exaggerated that Pee-Wee seemed normal.
The ending of "Big Top Pee-Wee" bothered me the most. It appeared that the editor left out about 15 minutes of story. The entire film builds up to the big night of the circus, and nothing happens, the film ends without a climax. I would have loved to have seen Pee-Wee caught up in several circus acts, it would have been the opportunity for some great "slapstick."
On a scale from #1 to #10, (#1 being "a piece of shit" and #10 being "absolutely fantsatic"), I give it a #7. I must admit being a big fan of Pee-Wee, I'm biased; however, I did expect the film to be as good or better than his first film, PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE.
------------------------------------------------------------ LEE ---------------
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