Kindergarten Cop (1990)
Directed by Ivan Reitman
Hard-edged cop John Kimble gets more than he bargained for when he goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to get the goods on a brutal drug lord while at the same time protecting the man's young son. Pitted against a class of boisterous moppets whose antics try his patience and test his mettle, Kimble may have met his match … in more ways than one.
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What critics compared Kindergarten Cop to
If this plot, concocted by Jonathan Bernstein, James Greer and Gregory Poirier, sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because they borrowed liberally from “The Pacifier” (2005), in which Vin Diesel played an undercover agent caring for five kids, along with bits from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Kindergarten Cop.”
‘The Spy Next Door’’ may be a Z-movie rip-off of “The Pacifier,’’ which was a B-movie rip-off of “Kindergarten Cop,’’ which wasn’t a grade-A idea to start with, but at the new movie’s center is a notion that’s charmingly, if not dementedly democratic: That a nerdy businessman/undercover super-agent played by action star Jackie Chan could build a loving, sustainable relationship with the suburban single mom next door played by supermodel Amber Valletta.
From there, it wasn't such a big leap to Arnold and Kindergarten Cop and now, God help us, The Pacifier, a yawn-by-numbers romper-room dud that is nevertheless shrewd enough to tweak its star, Vin Diesel, for becoming a joke in less time than it took him to become an action hero.
It's Kindergarten Cop by way of Three Men and a Baby (with a little Home Alone cartoon violence thrown in for good measure), with Diesel as a military man whose hard nose slowly softens when he is charged with the protection of a fallen comrade's family.
The film�s antecedents are Kindergarten Cop and Mr. Mom, with Shane�s granite machismo (Diesel even looks sort of phallic) yielding to the cockle-warming force of the adorable moppets as he protects them from terrorists and a bullying vice-principal (Brad Garrett).
Vin Diesel's bid to follow in Arnold Schwarzenegger's massive footsteps has reached the Kindergarten Cop stage.
The Pacifier sounds like the worst parts of Mrs. Doubtfire and Kindergarten Cop, yet director Adam Shankman ( Bringing Down the House ) and writers Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant (the guys behind the flop Taxi ) put together an amiable and sometimes amusing movie.
Playing with Fire isn't nearly as quotable or memorable as Arnold's Kindergarten Cop , but the cast has enough comedic chemistry to keep families entertained.
Following a similar “muscle-man behemoth looks after little children” path of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop and Dwayne Johnson in Tooth Fairy , Cena tries his best to elevate Playing With Fire above the doldrums of its woeful screenplay.
What Neeson tries on here is luckily a lot more becoming than the average Kindergarten Cop or The Pacifier, Neeson matching the dry wit that made him an actor’s actor with the grit and capacity for violence that revived his career with Taken a decade ago.
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A family comedy in the same vein of Kindergarten Cop and The Pacifier, The Game Plan casts Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Joe Kingman - a star quarterback whose fast-paced lifestyle is thrown for a loop after his illegitimate (and previously unknown) eight-year-old daughter arrives on his doorstop.
The hackneyed, unbelievable script by Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer is mild on originality and inspired as a skewered transmutation of Stakeout and Kindergarten Cop, with a pinch of MacGyver (a.k.a.
Lawrence excels as Big Momma, and rises above the film's unremarkable direction (care of Raja Gosnell, of Home Alone 3 fame), substandard dialogue (screenplay by Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer), and a plot cribbed mercilessly from Kindergarten Cop.
Moreover, Stuber plays like a cousin of sorts to Arnold Schwarzenegger's (still terrific) Kindergarten Cop.
Cena is game for anything; he reminded me a little of Arnold Schwarzenegger from some of his comedies (Twins and Kindergarten Cop), albeit without the accent.
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Given that director Jason Reitman’s father, Ivan Reitman, is best known for making movies like “Stripes,” “Ghostbusters” and “Kindergarten Cop,” there was no reason to think that Jason Reitman’s comedies would be anything more than disposable entertainments.
And while The Pacifier isn't even remotely as engaging and enjoyable as something like Kindergarten Cop, there's no denying that the film is breezy enough and wacky enough to warrant a very mild recommendation.