Captain Ron
3/4
Starring: Martin Short, Kurt Russell, Mary Kay Place, Benjamin Salisbury, Meadow Sisto
Rated PG-13 for Elements of Sensuality, and for Some Language
"Captain Ron" belongs on a list of movies that you see in your aunt's dusty VHS collection but despite having a big name cast, you've never heard of it. Or you find it in a discount DVD bin, which is what I did. The point is that this movie silly fun while it lasts, but it's no surprise why it ended up with such an unenviable fate.
Mild mannered office drone Martin Harvey (Short) is about to get a surprise that he so richly deserves. A relative (an uncle, if memory serves) recently died, leaving him in possession of a yacht once owned by Clark Gable. Its worth a fortune, so he plans to sail it from Ste. Pomme de Terre (his wife correctly translates that to 'potato') to Miami with his family and sell it for big bucks. When they get there, it turns out that it's a bit of a fixer-upper. To help them sail it, the future buyer hires Captain Ron (Russell), an old salt who could be the descendant of Captain Jack Sparrow. Martin's family adventure is going to be anything but fun. For him at least.
One of the things I miss about modern movies is their sense of fun. They get so bogged down by fan service (just about anything in the MCU), the bloated egos of their stars (anything with Seth Rogen), or are so desperate to be topical and relevant that they lose a lot of what makes movies so much fun in the first place. Movies like "Captain Ron" may not be as smart as a movie like "Borat" or "Ted," or as funny as a Judd Apatow flick (one of the good ones, at least). But in many ways they're a lot more enjoyable because they're just plain fun. The sun is shining, there's no canon or fan service to worry about, there's nothing beneath the surface or some kind of satirical edge...it exists just to entertain. So many movies forget that these days that, even when a movie as innocuous as "Captain Ron" comes along, I tend to enjoy it more. Maybe it's nostalgia.
Kurt Russell is a better actor than a lot of people give him credit for (just take a look at his work in "Backdraft," for example), and while Captain Ron shows Russell at his goofy best, the writing is too shallow for him to have much fun with it. Compare it to the juicy one Johnny Depp got for his most famous role. But Russell takes it seriously and does what he can. Martin Short is adequate as the straight man, but he seems a little out of his element as a tightly wound jerk. Captain Ron is more loopy than obnoxious, and he's clearly a smart, capable individual, which doesn't allow for the Martin's antagonistic feelings to really pay off. Mary Kay Place is fine as his loving and supportive wife, and Meadow Sisto and Benjamin Salisbury are solid as their kids.
If there's any flaw with "Captain Ron," it's that it may be too light for its own good. There are some crazy things that happen in this movie (such as being an unwilling ferry for some revolutionaries), but it's played at such a cheery level that things never get crazy or bizarre enough to provoke more than smiles. It could still be as light and silly as it is if it had a bit more cleverness and bite. Perhaps more so.
"Captain Ron" is not a great movie, and I don't know if I'll ever sit down to watch it again at the expense of something else. But for what it is, I'm glad I saw it.
Starring: Martin Short, Kurt Russell, Mary Kay Place, Benjamin Salisbury, Meadow Sisto
Rated PG-13 for Elements of Sensuality, and for Some Language
"Captain Ron" belongs on a list of movies that you see in your aunt's dusty VHS collection but despite having a big name cast, you've never heard of it. Or you find it in a discount DVD bin, which is what I did. The point is that this movie silly fun while it lasts, but it's no surprise why it ended up with such an unenviable fate.
Mild mannered office drone Martin Harvey (Short) is about to get a surprise that he so richly deserves. A relative (an uncle, if memory serves) recently died, leaving him in possession of a yacht once owned by Clark Gable. Its worth a fortune, so he plans to sail it from Ste. Pomme de Terre (his wife correctly translates that to 'potato') to Miami with his family and sell it for big bucks. When they get there, it turns out that it's a bit of a fixer-upper. To help them sail it, the future buyer hires Captain Ron (Russell), an old salt who could be the descendant of Captain Jack Sparrow. Martin's family adventure is going to be anything but fun. For him at least.
One of the things I miss about modern movies is their sense of fun. They get so bogged down by fan service (just about anything in the MCU), the bloated egos of their stars (anything with Seth Rogen), or are so desperate to be topical and relevant that they lose a lot of what makes movies so much fun in the first place. Movies like "Captain Ron" may not be as smart as a movie like "Borat" or "Ted," or as funny as a Judd Apatow flick (one of the good ones, at least). But in many ways they're a lot more enjoyable because they're just plain fun. The sun is shining, there's no canon or fan service to worry about, there's nothing beneath the surface or some kind of satirical edge...it exists just to entertain. So many movies forget that these days that, even when a movie as innocuous as "Captain Ron" comes along, I tend to enjoy it more. Maybe it's nostalgia.
Kurt Russell is a better actor than a lot of people give him credit for (just take a look at his work in "Backdraft," for example), and while Captain Ron shows Russell at his goofy best, the writing is too shallow for him to have much fun with it. Compare it to the juicy one Johnny Depp got for his most famous role. But Russell takes it seriously and does what he can. Martin Short is adequate as the straight man, but he seems a little out of his element as a tightly wound jerk. Captain Ron is more loopy than obnoxious, and he's clearly a smart, capable individual, which doesn't allow for the Martin's antagonistic feelings to really pay off. Mary Kay Place is fine as his loving and supportive wife, and Meadow Sisto and Benjamin Salisbury are solid as their kids.
If there's any flaw with "Captain Ron," it's that it may be too light for its own good. There are some crazy things that happen in this movie (such as being an unwilling ferry for some revolutionaries), but it's played at such a cheery level that things never get crazy or bizarre enough to provoke more than smiles. It could still be as light and silly as it is if it had a bit more cleverness and bite. Perhaps more so.
"Captain Ron" is not a great movie, and I don't know if I'll ever sit down to watch it again at the expense of something else. But for what it is, I'm glad I saw it.
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