FeistyUpper
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Huievest
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Tweekums
Clark Kellogg is a student from Vermont about to start university in New York. Things don't get off to a good start; the man who gives him a ride from the station steals his money and his luggage then his main lecturer says he must by $700 worth of books. He sees the thief again and chases him; he catches the man but he tells Clark the money is gone… but he can get him a job. The job turns out to be working for Carmine Sabatini, a man who strongly resembles 'The Godfather'. The job sounds suspicious $500 to pick up a package at the airport and deliver it to a specified address. The package turns out to be a Komodo dragon. The job doesn't quite go to plan but it is ultimately delivered. Later he learns that the dragon is due to be the main course at the 'Gourmet Club' an illegal restaurant where people pay a fortune to dine on the most endangered species. Soon government agents are putting pressure on him after being tipped off by his step-father and Carmine's daughter Tina is convinced that Clark will marry her! Clark is clearly out of his depth.I first saw this film in the cinema while on holiday then forgot about it till recently when I picked up the DVD… I must say I really enjoyed it. The story is obviously silly but it is played relatively straight and provides plenty of laughs. Matthew Broderick is on fine form as Clark and Marlon Brando is great fun as he sends up his character from 'The Godfather'; as this is directly referenced it could easily have broken the suspension of disbelief but actually it worked amazingly well. The rest of the cast are solid too; most notably Bruno Kirby who is a lot of fun as Victor, the thief who introduces Clark to Carmine. The scenes between Broderick and Brando are one highlight of the film; another is the scene where the Komodo dragon escapes and causes havoc in a shopping mall… even if the film doesn't actually feature a real Komodo dragon; that would have been far too dangerous and impractical! The ending feature a nice twist that doesn't feel out of place with what happened before. Overall this is a fun film that I'd certainly recommend to anybody wanting good inoffensive entertainment.
SnoopyStyle
Clark Kellogg (Matthew Broderick) leaves his mother and animal rights vigilante stepfather Dwight Armstrong (Kenneth Welsh) in Vermount to attend NYU film school. Arriving in the big city, con man Victor Ray (Bruno Kirby) steals all of his luggage. He encounters Victor again and this time, Victor offers him a job working for his uncle Carmine Sabatini (Marlon Brando). He's taken with Carmine's daughter Tina (Penelope Ann Miller). Carmine tasks him with a pick-up job. He brings along his film-school roommate Bushak (Frank Whaley) and the package turns out to be a Komodo dragon.It's a fun return of Marlon Brando's Godfather character. The Komodo dragon brings a full-on comedic romp. It's fun and charming especially the ending. Baby-faced Broderick still has some of his Bueller charms. The movie has fun dangling the Godfather in front of the audience.
Michael Neumann
Matthew Broderick is the fledgling NYU student of the film's title, made an offer he can't refuse by an aging Italian padrone bearing an uncanny resemblance to The Godfather's Vito Corleone. Hardly surprising, since the part is played by Marlon Brando, and that's the only real joke in the entire film: Brando's word-perfect parody of his earlier role. Elsewhere the movie is simply writer director Andrew Bergman's third person film school fantasy, with a screenplay only an underclassman could appreciate. It might have been a modern screwball classic except for the slack pacing, lame jokes, annoying voice-over commentary (always a sure sign of lazy writing), and transparent plot twists, including a climax lifted directly from 'The Sting', but with the outcome laboriously spelled out beforehand. Brando himself admitted the film was a piece of garbage, and with good reason. It's almost worth the price of admission to see him carrying his considerable weight so gracefully around an ice skating rink, or hear Bert Parks sing the Miss America theme song to a Komodo Dragon, but otherwise this freshman flunks.
FlashCallahan
I think i'm missing the point with this movie.Yes, it's great to see Brando on the screen once more in 'Godfather' mode, but it all stinks of blatant cash in to me.The story is your typical fish out of water scenario. Broderick plays new student who loses everything within ten minutes of being in New York, gets offered a job by Brando, and there is a massive racket going on involving endangered species dinner parties (yes, really).it has it's moments, there are some funny lines from Kirby and Whaley, but the main stars really have little to do, apart from re-enact previous roles (Corleone and Bueller respectively).it's not a bad film by any means, but they could have improved the script and the story a little, and made it a little more special.still, lucky for the film makers it was made before Part 3.not bad, just bland...
