{"id":16717,"date":"2022-10-12T17:27:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T21:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=16717"},"modified":"2026-05-28T15:02:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T19:02:35","slug":"kindergarten-cop-1990","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=16717","title":{"rendered":"Kindergarten Cop-1990"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kindergarten Cop 1990<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Ivan Reitman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #1,306<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed October 12, 2022<\/p>\n

Grade: C+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before Arnold Schwarzenegger found politics and after he left professional bodybuilding, he starred in a string of films during the 1980s and 1990s.<\/p>\n

At first, he was solely a bankable action figure due to his bulky frame, but he later delved into more comedic, friendlier film roles.<\/p>\n

Kindergarten Cop (1990) is one of those films, yet there is enough mild violence to draw in the male crowd as well.<\/p>\n

Some of his films were better than others, with the best being The Terminator (1984) and True Lies (1994).<\/p>\n

Kindergarten Cop is a fair-to-middling effort that attempts to transport the brawny star into a likable teacher, but the result feels more forced than genuine.<\/p>\n

Naturally, the main character finds himself in a quandary over whether to fight crime or teach youngsters after he falls in love with them and with another teacher.<\/p>\n

The setup is way too similar to other films in the action-comedy genre, and it’s very standard fare. The bad guy and love interest are tired and cliched, and the gags involving the kids are overly juvenile and mostly fall flat.<\/p>\n

Despite these trite characteristics, Kindergarten Cop is not a terrible film, thanks to Schwarzenegger’s appeal. He is good-natured, and his transition from grizzled cop to a kindly teacher is not unfun.<\/p>\n

It provides some family-friendly light entertainment that can be enjoyed on a rainy Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Unusual circumstances force cop John Kimble (Schwarzenegger) to pose as a kindergarten teacher to apprehend the major drug lord Cullen Crisp (Richard Tyson) and his accomplice and mother, Eleanor, played by Carroll Baker.<\/p>\n

While pretending to be a kid-friendly instructor, Kimble falls for pretty fellow teacher Joyce Palmieri (Penelope Ann Miller) as he tries to balance unruly children with the dangerous bad guys.<\/p>\n

In a twist seen coming a mile away, Joyce and her son are the people that Cullen is pursuing.<\/p>\n

Kindergarten Cop all seems so perfectly thought out.<\/p>\n

It’s like a bunch of suits were sitting at a round table making sure the elements were all included: hero, bad guy, love interest, kids, enough action sequences, and a chase finale.<\/p>\n

There is even one standard black kid and one Asian kid to check off the diversity box.<\/p>\n

And enough precociousness to last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

The comedy mostly comes in the classroom, where it’s frequently humorous to watch a gigantic man teach little kids, especially when he has no idea what to do.<\/p>\n

Careful not to be too silly, there are a couple of sentimental moments and social situations, like when Kimble threatens a father who is abusing his son.<\/p>\n

Director Ivan Reitman, quite familiar with screwball comedies, directed funnies such as Meatballs (1979) and Stripes (1981), so he knows what makes people chuckle.<\/p>\n

The action sequences do not work well, other than providing a reason for Kimble to run around and protect the kids and Joyce. We all know he will eventually best Cullen, which he does.<\/p>\n

Even the amazing Linda Hunt is wasted as a one-dimensional principal who initially hates Kimble but then comes around and accepts him.<\/p>\n

Kindergarten Cop (1990) is too blueprint-ready to recommend since it contains elements used in hundreds of other films. But for fans of the hulking Schwarzenegger, the film is a safe offering that sees the star in a softer light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kindergarten Cop 1990 Director Ivan Reitman Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger Scott’s Review #1,306 Reviewed October 12, 2022 Grade: C+ Before Arnold Schwarzenegger found politics and after he left professional bodybuilding, he starred in a string of films during the 1980s and 1990s. At first, he was solely a bankable action figure due to his bulky frame, … Continue reading Kindergarten Cop-1990<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[149,151,1664,1661,11388,1663,49,1660,1226,11385,11389,1662,11387],"tags":[285,152,1669,1666,11391,1668,252,1665,1228,11386,11392,1667,11390],"class_list":["post-16717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1990-films","category-actionfilms","category-angela-bassett","category-arnold-schwarzenegger","category-carroll-baker","category-cathy-moriarty","category-comedies","category-ivan-reitman","category-linda-hunt","category-pamela-reed","category-park-overall","category-penelope-ann-miller","category-richard-tyson","tag-1990-movie-reviews","tag-action-films","tag-angela-bassett","tag-arnold-schwarzenegger","tag-carroll-baker","tag-cathy-moriarty","tag-comedies","tag-ivan-reitman","tag-linda-hunt","tag-pamela-reed","tag-park-overall","tag-penelope-ann-miller","tag-richard-tyson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16717"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23241,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16717\/revisions\/23241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}