User reviews

For me this is one of those movies you will either love or hate, there is no in between. Having said that I loved it, but do not rate it up there with good movies, because even though I loved it, it is not really that good. I do think however that it is better than the current 4.4 rating.

Arnie and Danny Devito are quite funny together, but some of Arnie's acting can be hit and miss. I am by the way a big fan of Arnies, just being honest.

The casting is probably the best thing about Junior. It's hard to imagine any other macho actor of Arnies ilk pulling this off. As in Twins and Kindergarten Cop, Arnie plays against his macho image, getting both laughs and smiles by showing us his non macho side.

Add Danny Devito and Emma Thompson, actors I hold in high regard and you have to at least give this a go.

It gave me a few laughs and a smile, but I have no wish to watch it twice.

This movie is about a male scientist that, for a scientific experiment, agrees to carry a pregnancy in his own body (!). And while his colleague's former wife is also pregnant, he also befriends a nurse (and hilarious situations follows).

Personally I found the movie funny at times. I'll say to the haters ''Come on folks it's a comedy''. But I'll explain the reasons why I didn't rated this movie higher than 5. And it's better than the overall rating of 4,6 would suggest.

The pros: Schwarzenegger, DeVito and Emma Thompson were the strong point of the movie, they did the best with the material they were given. I liked especially the scene when Arnold ends in drag at a clinic specialized in pregnancy, and some weeks later along with DeVito and Emma rush to the hospital along with DeVito's wife.

The cons: The concept of a pregnant man can disturb many sensible persons, and I personally felt queasy about the subject matter. Thanks to the nightmare scene (although many wouldn't agree with me, I found it very funny). And the villain, played by Frank Langella, it's not a very believable villain, as he is defeated easily.

However I found the movie funny and likeable, but in some points shallow and silly. But this is not always a bad thing, like in this case.

When reading the comments I saw lots of pro's and lots of contras. But the comments are quite strong so it is worth reading them carefully.

Then again, what does it mean, some people like apple pies, some don't.

I watched this movie on TV, there was nothing better to watch, and at first I thought this is crazy I have ten 4-starred videos that I can watch tonight, but I stayed on.

It's just a bit of fun. I also wanted to see the combination Schwarzenegger - Thompson, which really works. Add De Vito and you're in for 3/4ths of an apple pie. Add Reitman and you have a complete apple pie.

The cream on top is not provided, mainly because the antagonist, the evil guy at the University does not work.

I don't think it's worth a rental, certainly not a buy, but better than Prozac.

Arnold Schwarzenegger as a scientist who makes himself pregnant? The premise is pretty funny, even if the idea of Ah-nold in a comedy makes one suspicious. I thought "Twins" was awful, and "Conan" a comedy by accident. "Kindergarten Cop" was better because Schwarzenegger was mostly a straight man. Here he is called on to act the part of a pregnant man opposite Danny DeVito and Emma Thompson. While it is not an Oscar calibre performance, he gets the job done.

The story is reasonably simple. DeVito (a fertility specialist) and Schwarzenegger (a scientist) are partners working on a new miracle fertility drug. Their project gets canceled by the University and replaced by an ovarian study under the direction of Emma Thompson. They decide to implant an embryo in Schwarzenegger and continue the study illegally. They steal an egg from Thompson's ovarian study and the stage is set. Of course, the egg is Thompson's and she and Schwarzenegger are attracted to each other.

Ivan Reitman does a very good job with the story, keeping it simple and staying focused on the characters. Had he spent a lot of time focusing on the physical comedy, the film would have failed. Instead we get to watch the ultimate "macho" figure take on the ultimate "female" experience. The contrast keeps the comedy rolling, while the characters carry the film.

It is hardly a profound film, although it is intelligently written. The issues raised rely on simple male vs. female differences and the contrast of Schwarzenegger's image with this role is used to full effect. It's an enjoyable film with strong performances by Thompson and DeVito.

This is a very Clinton-era movie. Which is to say, if many conservatives believe that homosexuality is destroying the family unit or whatever I don't know what they'd think about this.

As many people have said, overall this movie is just kind of creepy. I was expecting a stupid comedy where Arnold accidentally gets knocked-up and wacky hi-jinx ensue. Instead, I got a very touchy-feely movie about the ultimate way for a man to embrace his feminine side. With a smarter script and different casting, this could have actually worked, but instead the filmmakers try to make this subject standard box-office fare, which it's not. The result is the most unintentionally creepy romantic comedy ever. The scene where Arnold dreams of a baby with his face stands out in my mind as spectacularly nightmare-inducing. If that all sounds appealing to you, have fun!

You know, I can imagine Reitman looking at Twins, and thinking: "Hey, that worked out pretty well... the two of them are good together... I'll try that again". So he did. Only this time, while Danny is sleazy as ever(don't get me wrong, I've liked him in several roles, but it is kinda his shtick), and Arnie is, well, that physique doesn't just get put away for a movie or two, obviously, they're both playing competent doctors, and that's not where the high requirements for suspension of disbelief end with this thing(frankly, it's barely where they begin). Minimal effort is made to address the immediately obvious issues that there are with the concept of this, so it ends up being little else than a two-hour "pregnant woman behaviour" joke, mostly with Schwarzenegger acting that out, which is automatically hilarious, you know, because... he's a man! Get it? Don't worry about it. Oh, and there is "humor" from Thompson being clumsy, and occasionally frazzled, because she's a female nerd. Isn't it funny how, in Hollywood, all geeks of the fairer sex are either perfectly beautiful, or, you know, "television ugly", meaning, basically a pretty girl, just with unflattering clothes, glasses and/or bad hair? It's not a poorly done flick. It's shot, edited and scored just fine. Pacing is reasonable. The plot develops nicely, though it is entirely predictable. The romance and the attempts at getting emotional responses from the audience are largely unconvincing. I recommend this to those who wish to watch all the work of one or more of the people who made this. 5/10

Arnold Schwarzenegger gets pregnant. That's about it. The premise is ridiculous, the twists and turns in the plot are mind-bogglingly stupid and every joke is predictable and hammered at you--but I still like this film! The script does have it's moments, but the performances really carry this one.

Arnie is suprisingly very funny when he becomes pregnant (when asks DeVito in all seriousness "Does my body disgust you?" I broke up); DeVito is just along for the ride but is good--he's the straight man to Arnie; Emma Thompson is just gorgeous, very funny and full of life as a clumsy scientist. Also Judy Collins (yes, the singer) pops up looking radiant as the head of a center for pregnant women. Everything looks wonderful and the film is slickly made to cater the the audience. I usually hate films like that, but this worked. The only bad part is Pamela Reed--she's a wonderful actress and comediene but she's shamefully underused--she doesn't get any good funny scenes till the end. Also, where else will you see Arnie in a dress?

It's a one joke film. Is it a good film? No. Do I like it? Very much. Call it a guilty favorite.

One complaint--at 2 hours it's too long. Couldn't it have been trimmed a little?

Honestly. Arnold is having a baby. I am supposed to write a paper analyzing the dream sequences of this film. As if this were a real movie! Why do people think that everything is art? Arnold + DeVito = $$$. This is a bad movie about Arnold having a baby. There is nothing good about it save the names of the doctors. Even those aren't very good. Avoid this movie at all costs and never take a class which requires you to write a paper on it. Ugh. This is the worst movie ever. Let me say it once more. Terrible movie. How else can I put it? In Spanish? "Junior es una pelicula terrible." In English again... BAD MOVIE. If you want to see an Arnold/DeVito buddy film go watch Twins.

In summing up, this movie is good but it isn't great. It does have its faults, but I found it surprisingly enjoyable. Starting with its problems, the film is a little too long, Pamela Reed is very underused which is a shame as I like her a lot as an actress and comedienne and there are one or two predictable parts. On the plus side, it is very well made with great cinematography and scenery, and the music is very nice. The pacing and direction are both very slick, and while Junior is basically very one-joke, there were some funny moments and the script does well to convey this. The acting is what drove Junior though, as well as the great if rather ridiculous concept. Arnold Schwarznegger is surprisingly entertaining here in one of his more lighter roles, while Danny DeVito is even better and Emma Thompson is absolutely gorgeous as the clumsy scientist and love interest(though I will say as a fan of hers she has given better performances). Overall, I liked it, it wasn't great but it wasn't awful either. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I am watching one of the worst films ever made. I don't think I can stay to the end. This is excruciating.

I can see why Arnold would take this role on. The premise is just right for him to spoof his image. And the cast is one of guaranteed winners. But, ohhhhh, the execution! It's awful! The acting is fine, the great chemistry between Arnold and DeVito is there, but nothing works. There are even some jokes that would be pretty funny in another context, but they flop.

Too bad, but this is a sorry, sorry movie.

Wonderfully light comedy based on a fantastic fiction about a researcher who gets himself pregnant for the sake of Science and Glory, but goes through the nine months for the sake of Motherhood and Baby. There are plenty of plot boo-boos, but the movie is tongue-in-the-cheek throughout, so maybe the boo-boos are meant that way... Anyway, if you don't mind the occasional sexist cliche, and if you want to see Mister (Hollywood) Universe in the charming role of a peaceable pregnant researcher, this movie packs two hours of hearty laughter. In the whole movie, Arnold sends flying only one man, once - the only bad guy in the movie.

"Junior", is a thoroughly entertaining, yet insightful movie that manages in the end to be touching. The story line (man gets pregnant) is sufficiently well-known from the publicity that it need not be outlined here. I have always admired Arnie's refreshing unpretentiousness about his lack of acting ability, but he has indeed come far from the grunting days of Conan and in this movie attains some very good moments. He really does make you believe he's carrying to term.

Good work all around - Emma Thompson (this great actress can't think too badly of Arnie to agree to make a movie with him; then again, is it the dough???) is a delightfully klutzy research scientist, and Danny DeVito plays a sympathetic role but with the inevitable undertones of sleazoid tackiness that he does so well. A good subplot is the relationship between DeVito and his divorced wife, also pregnant.

The commenter who said the premise was 'medically conceivable' [sic] didn't know much about amniotic sacs, placentas, and umbilical cords. That's ok; suspend disbelief and enjoy the humor.

The 'messages' here about gender roles and expectations are delivered with such a sense of humor that they are never preachy (I think of the classic "Tootsie" as a comparable example). An intelligently funny script, good comic pacing, and a hefty dose of outright slapstick make this a winner.

The humor in this film lies in its premise. If you don't know what it's about, I won't bother spelling it out for you. But it's pretty ridiculous. The jokes themselves are hit-or-miss. Some land fine but most miss the mark.

Schwarzenegger and DeVito of course are good together, but the writing could have been better. This film never lets up with the ridiculousness, which is nice, but if only it could have been more funny. Of course it's a classic, but it's still hard to sit through if you're not in the mood. Do not recommend.

The first time I saw this I was like "ok, that is kinda strange", but this movie gets better every time you see it. There are some funny parts in this movie especially where arnie is in the dress! I wanted to see this, because I really liked Twins and Junior also stars Danny De Vito so it was like a reunion. If you liked Twins I think you will like this too. Ivan Reitman is a pretty good director. i don't think he has made a movie that I haven't liked. If you want a good laugh then go out and rent this arnie movie today. It is not as bad as you have heard from others. 8.5/10

I thought Junior would be stupid. I was right. The only reason I watched it was because I was stuck in a hotel in Korea, and couldn't sleep.

Aside from beating a single lame joke to death, Junior threw in way too many gratuitous bones to the proabortion lobby. (I guess the idea being that Hollywood just has to underscore their theory that if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.) Arnie and DeVito intended to abort the fetus after a brief test pregnancy -- repeating again and again that the whole "experiment" will be "completed" "by the end of the first trimester." Yup -- killing fetuses less than one trimester old is so morally neutral that it's okay to create the embryo with the express intention of killing it off "quick, before it becomes human!"

At the end of "the first trimester," Arnie is supposed to stop taking the drug cocktail that sustains the pregnancy. He looks at the vial of blue fluid at the time he's supposed to deliberately miss his first dose, then talks to the fetus, telling it he doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl so he'll call it Junior. And he downs the drug, hence converting the "pregnancy" into "my baby." The whole thing is absurd, since DeVito plays an obstetrician and he'd been doing routine ultrasounds so they'd have known already if the baby was male or female.

Later, when the big bad guy from the oppressive patriarchal university learns that Arnie is pregnant, he gets guards and tries to take Arnie into custody. Arnie tosses the guards, telling the big bad guy, "My body, my choice!" One of the women in the lab yells, "Amen!" Since the bad guy wasn't even trying to abort Arnie's baby, this was clearly a gratuitious attempt to get across the bizarre idea that the only reason Arnie was able to get pregnant and have his baby was because abortion was legal. As if that had squat to do with it.

If you're a rabid abortion supporter, you'll probably love Junior for all the propaganda moments. I can't see anybody else much caring for it.

JUNIOR is a contender for Arnold Schwarzenegger's worst film, a spectacularly ill-conceived comedy in which the action star plays a research scientist who falls pregnant thanks to some pioneering treatment. It's the third teaming for the star and director Ivan Reitman, following on from TWINS and KINDERGARTEN COP, and it's a stuttering misfire from the start.

First off, I have to say that the subject matter doesn't really lend itself to comedy. There are some jokes here, many of them obvious, but for a lot of the running time the film adopts a mawkish and sentimental tone which doesn't make for a very enjoyable viewing experience. There are also HUGE plot holes surrounding the male pregnancy, such as the film not explaining how the baby grows in Schwarzenegger's stomach without an umbilical cord.

The worst thing about the story is the script, which is threadbare in the extreme. Characters like the shoe-horned in villain played by Frank Langella are lame and just a way to clutter up the running time. The acting is pretty bad, particularly in the case of the excruciating Emma Thompson, whose attempts at 'slapstick' humour fall flat time and time again. I could hardly bear to watch her in this. Schwarzenegger himself is wooden, playing an unlikeable character, and the only decent performance comes from Danny DeVito. Sadly his presence alone isn't enough to make this anywhere near a good movie.

No doubt the makers of this film had one major supposition in mind when planning and making "Junior." That would be that anyone with any biological knowledge about the human body would suspend it and accept this film's premise. So then, a human male could ingest a fertilized human egg from a woman and an embryo would implant Itself and grow in his stomach -- apparently, the large intestine. Of course, it would be immune to the powerful stomach acids that reduce a piece of beef to a clump of waste in a matter of hours. Of course, it would permeate the wall of the stomach to form its life sac for exchange of nutrients with the host. And so on, and so on.

So, once the audience members essentially shut down their brains, they will be able to see the humor in this theme, and be responsive to the comedy that follows. So the thinking must have gone. And, what might the comedy be, but a male acting out nuances and reactions of a woman in pregnancy. Most viewers didn't find much humor in that - well, after the first one or two times. And the script otherwise didn't have enough comedy to overcome the unfunny weird premise.

The movie public of 1994 didn't buy it at all. The film lost several million. U. S. Ticket sales didn't even match half of the budget, and the world gross didn't even cover the film's budget -- $108 million vs $60 million. The studio gets about 50% of the ticket sales.

With a budget that size for those stars in 1994, one would guess that Emma Thompson was offered a wad to make this movie. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine how she could have agreed to be in such a turkey of a film. This is a far cry from "Twins," which had some pretty good comedy with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.

This film is also billed as sci-fi. It's much closer to that that any real comedy. But mostly, it's a real dud and waste of money.

Errr...OK where to start with this one? Arnold Schwartzenegger is a scientist who wants to test a pregnancy drug for women but doesn't get permission to do it. Instead, he and Danny DeVito come up with the utterly deranged idea to decide to test it on a man, that being Schwartzenegger obviously. After starting the experiment somehow, Arnold eventually abandons the testing in exchange for keeping the baby, acting like a sensitive woman, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

This film is terrible. It's your basic 1990s big-tough-guy-tapping-into-his-feminine-side awful comedy like 'Mr Nanny' I suppose (lessons which have NOT been beneficial to men OR women, but that's another story). There is some cheesy feminist rhetoric as to 'my body my choice' and 'you should try being a woman, it's a nightmare' (which in and of itself makes no logical sense), and none of it is remotely funny. I suppose the problem is that now that male sensitivity is mainstream to a somewhat crippling level, this film fails to be funny anymore. It just looks dated. The science which propels this horrifying idea forward is broken - how the hell does Arnold even grow a baby, having no womb? For me, I'd rather commit seppuku than watch this god-awful pile of horse manure again.

Dr. Alex Hesse (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Dr. Larry Arbogast (Danny DeVito) are two leading fertility specialists who've had promising results on fertility drug, Expectane. When the FDA denies their application for human trials, University Director, Noah Barnes (Frank Langella) terminates their grant and project and transfers their resources to Dr. Diana Reddin (Emma Thompson) and her cryogenic ovum studies. Out of desperation Larry and Alex circumvent trials by using Alex as a temporary specimen, only for Alex to bond with the pregnancy much to Larry's annoyance. Meanwhile, Arbogast's ex-wife, Angela (Pamela Reed), is also pregnant and wants Larry to be her doctor but won't tell him who the father is, and must also deal with Alex's mood swings and cravings while avoiding the suspicions of Dr. Barnes.

Released in 1994, the film began development under the working title of Oh, Baby until it came to the attention of Arnold Schwarzenegger who brought the script to Ivan Reitman loving the premise. While Reitman was initially hesitant feeling the premise was too "out there" to work with a mainstream audience. The movie eventually gained traction and reteamed Reitman with Scharzenegger after successes in both Twins and Kindergarten Cop and even managed a reteam with DeVito following the cancellation of Reitman's semi-autobiographical film, Prague. While the movie did have some support such as Siskel and Ebert who both gave the film very positive reviews, the majority of the critical reception was lukewarm to negative and performed about 50% of the business of previous Schwarzenegger/Reitman collaborations. While the movie wasn't a box office disaster by any stretch, it fell short of expectations by a wide margin.

Schwarzenegger actually does a good job playing against type as Alex Hesse and is surprisingly believable as an uptight no nonsense Austrian scientist (one of the few times Schwarzenegger plays an Austrian). DeVito likewise is playing a more likable character than usual that while still financially motivated is more egalitarian than the typical DeVito character and fits rather well into the role. There's a sweetness to the performances that emits a genuine likability to the material that makes the film a pleasant sit. Unlike previous Reitman/Schwarzenegger projects like Twins or Kindergarten Cop the movie is much slower paced than either of those films and plays more like a Chris Columbus handled melodrama than the typical high concept comedy formula that is more expected. Whether or not you enjoy this movie will be dependent upon your enjoyment of light dramedies as that's oddly the route this movie takes despite its out there premise.

In many ways you can see Junior as a Sci-fi extension of those "men taking care of kids" movies like Mr. Mom, Three Men and a Baby, or Look Who's Talking and the material on display is really no better nor worse than those (save for an ill-advised CGI baby face in a dream sequence). The movie is pure formula and isn't shy about it. It's not offensively awful or a trainwreck as popular consciousness has deemed it, but it also doesn't mine its premise for all the comedic potential it could.

Junior is an okay timekiller. It's a pleasant enough distraction with likable characters and good chemistry that just happens to have a strange premise. It's definitely a dated movie fitting well in mind with the standards and sensibilities of the time, but it's not all that focused on the implications of its high concept instead just playing as a standard rom com with some gender reversal. If taken for what it is, a rom com with an unusual premise, it's perfectly fine.

... No? Then WHY gather round if he's up the duff????! There's nothing' in this idea besides the obvious novelty - and just because something is 'new', doesn't make it funny. Did you find Robin Williams in drag funny? If yes, you might improbably enjoy it; if not, stay away!! They did the best they could with a stupid idea. Making this a dramatic fantasy rather than a comedy would've been their best avenue if the idea HAD to be extrapolated at all; since if you ponder it closely you'll realise that there's only a limited amount of fun be had at the expense of the travails of childbirth before it ceases to be amusing and just becomes cruelly smug.

As they often say where medical matters are concerned; the prevention of not being in a position to watch this film AT ALL would be more agreeable than the 'cure' of having to make excuses in defense, now that it's here for better or worse... On the same subject, if there was EVER an effective method of 'birth control', it's the deeply unsettling sight of Arnie 'with child'!! Perhaps the thought of 'Der Governator' going through all the 'joys' of morning sickness will help scores of young men from all over the world formulate a more effective plan when it comes to such crucial elements as keeping the wolf from the door... !! It'd certainly put ME off my stride, a bit, that's for sure!!

Junior is an entertaining, enjoyable film that is suitable for the entire family. All the actors do a fine job and the storyline (you must suspend disbelief) is actually very funny. A rating of 7 out of 10 was given for this movie.

This film is one of the strangest films I've ever seen, and I've seen some pretty strange movies (Attack of the Killer Banana anyone?). Although extremely strange, it's funny, in only a way the director of Ghostbusters could make it. Arnold's explanation of why he's so ugly in drag is hilarious. Emma Thompson gives a particuarly good role by Danny DeVito. Worth a rental, if not a buy.