Late 1980s and early 1990s represented the zenith of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career. Films he made in that period not only became massive hits, but also showed that he could take his career in different directions, switching from ultraviolent macho action films into the realms of family-friendly comedy. 1990 film Kindergarten Cop, although hardly among the best in his filmography, represented an interest step during such transformation.
The plot begins in Los Angeles where tough LAPD detective John Kimble (played by Schwarzenegger) is on the trail of murderous drug dealer Cullen Crisp (played by Richard Tyson). Crisp gets arrested after murdering an informant, but the case against him is weak. Kimble hopes that Crisp’s ex-wife Rachel, rumoured to have taken husband’s drug money, could testify and put Crisp permanently behind bars. She has, however, disappeared and taken young son Cullen Crisp, Jr. with her. The only trail is elementary school in Astoria, Oregon which is apparently attended by Junior. Kimble goes to Astoria to find him, accompanied by Detective Phoebe O’Hara (played by Pamela Reed), former teacher who is supposed to go to school undercover and seek the boy in kindergarten class. Before she can perform this task Phoebe gets struck with stomach flu and Kimble is forced to take her place. Kimble is completely unprepared and, at first, gets frustrated with his inability to deal with unruly children. However, he gradually establishes rapport with his class and begins to like his new job, especially after noticing charming fellow teacher Joyce Palmer (played by Penelope Ann Miller). In the meantime, Crisp gets out of jail with the help of his mother Eleanor (played by Carroll Baker) and goes to Astoria to get his ex wife and son.
Kindergarten Cop is in its essence an “high concept” comedy. Many such films fail because the concept itself exhaust all creativity, but in this particular case the concept was elevated with presence of Schwarzenegger who wholeheartedly embraced it after realising that it would perfectly serve his purpose of confirming his comedic abilities, displayed two years earlier in Twins, another film directed by Ivan Reitman. In this film Schwarzenegger uses the hugeness of his body to create sharp but effective contrast with legion of tiny children but he also parodies his own image of tough action hero. Schwarzenegger has very good rapport with children actors, some of whom would later continue acting careers as adults. He is also helped by good buddy cop chemistry with Pamela Reed who provides surprisingly strong performance as his partner, especially in the scenes when her character pretends to be protagonist’s sister. Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, doesn’t have much chemistry with Penelope Ann Miller, charming actress who is reduced to eye candy, but whose presence nevertheless looks fitting to Astoria, presented through cinematography of Michael Chapman as quiet idyllic small town, so different from ugly urban jungle of Los Angeles depicted at the beginning.
If the entire film was set in Astoria and showed Kimble’s misadventures as teacher, Kindergarten Cop would have been a very good. Unfortunately, it is constrained by conventions of Hollywood police film and, as such, it fails. The main problem is in weak one-dimensional villains played by Richard Tyson and Carroll Baker. Another, even more serious problem is tonal shifts caused by scenes containing violence that turn Kindergarten Cop into drama. There are many dark moments that seem unfitting for family entertainment, like the scene addressing family abuse, but the darkest one comes during the final showdown that takes place in school and features children in frightening and potentially traumatic situation. Yet, Schwarzenegger, at least for a while, makes audience forget and ignore some of those flaws, turning Kindergarten Cop into watchable piece of entertainment.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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