credit: www.amazon.com
Paramount Pictures presents Ladybugs. Written by Curtis Burch. Running Time: 89 minutes. Rated PG-13 for some crude humor. Originally released in 1992
Director:
Sidney J. Furie
Cast:
Rodney Dangerfield……….Chester Lee
Jonathan Brandis……….Matthew/Martha
The Movie:
Ladybugs thy name is formula. Chester wants a promotion at work so he can marry his girlfriend. His boss needs a new soccer coach for his daughter’s soccer team. Chester agrees to coach the team in hopes it will get him the raise. Big problem: the team is terrible. If Chester can’t bring home the trophy he won’t get the raise. So he convinces his girlfriend’s son, Matthew, to join the team pretending to be a girl, Martha. What follows is a bunch of predictable missteps leading this ragtag bunch of misfits to happy ending.
Rodney Dangerfield can only play one character: Rodney Dangerfield. When he’s a supporting role, like in Caddyshack, he’s hilarious. But he’s really only got one joke, so when it gets stretched out to 89 minutes it gets tired real quickly. It’s amazing to think that Dangerfield’s film after this was Natural Born Killers. That was a far better role for him.
Like in most movies where one dresses in the opposite sex, it’s impossible to believe at anyone buys Jonathan Brandis as a girl. The few times he has a “feminine” voice it’s pretty bad. And of coarse, Matthew has a crush on one of the girls on the team. Not to mention Matthew hates Chester in the beginning of the film. It doesn’t take too long for them to bond, you know, just to get that subplot out of the way. This film doesn’t bring anything new to the underdog story. However, when you consider that Sidney Furie also directed Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, it’s not too surprising.
STORY: 3/10
ACTING: 5/10
LOOK/FEEL: 5/10
ORIGINALITY: 2/10
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 2/10
TOTAL SCORE: 17/50
FINAL SCORE: 3.5
The DVD:
The Video:
This film is presented in widescreen and enhanced for 16:9 TV’s. The presentation here is good even though what’s being presented isn’t.
Score:8/10
The Audio:
This film is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1. All of Rodney Dangerfield’s one-liners sound great, even if they aren’t funny.
Score:8/10
Extras:
Nothing, nadda, zilch. This DVD gets no respect! You figure they could have stuck a Rodney Dangerfield retrospective or something on here, a lame commentary, or even the trailer. At least that would have been something.
Score:0/10
| InsidePulse’s Ratings for Ladybugs | |
