Big Top Pee-wee

Directed by Randal Kleiser, Big Top Pee-wee follows Paul Reubens’ Pee-wee Herman as he accommodates a troupe of traveling circus performers, including Kris Kristofferson’s Mace Montana and Benicio del Toro’s Duke, on his farm – with the narrative detailing, among other things, Pee-wee’s relationship with a trapeze artist (Valeria Golino’s Gina) and his ongoing efforts at winning over the grumpy townspeople. It’s clear, ultimately, that Big Top Pee-wee benefits substantially from Reubens’ winning work as the always-appealing Pee-wee Herman, as the movie is otherwise, for the most part, lacking in compelling, overtly positive elements designed to sustain the viewer’s interest and propel the thin narrative forward – with the exceedingly erratic atmosphere compounded by an emphasis on subplots that simply aren’t as interesting as scripters George McGrath and Reubens have obviously intended. (This is certainly true of the central character’s predominantly tedious romantic exploits.) The rather underwhelming climax does little to alleviate the pervasively hit-and-miss atmosphere, which effectively cements Big Top Pee-wee‘s place as a just-barely-passable endeavor that could and should have been so much better.

**1/2 out of ****