Junior

Directed by Ivan Reitman, Junior follows Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Alex Hesse as he agrees to carry a baby to term as part of a colleague’s medical experiment – with complications ensuing after Alex begins to experience a whole host of pregnancy-related side effects. It’s an appealingly high-concept premise that’s employed to mostly watchable yet entirely disposable effect by Reitman, as the filmmaker, armed with Kevin Wade and Chris Conrad’s screenplay, delivers a less-than-streamlined comedy that ultimately receives plenty of mileage out of the entertaining, charismatic performances – with the winning work of Schwarzenegger and his talented costars, including Danny DeVito, Emma Thompson, and Frank Langella, going a long way towards sustaining one’s interest through the picture’s far-from-enthralling stretches. It’s clear, then, that Junior‘s inability to achieve liftoff comes down to its overlong running time and lack of forward momentum, as the movie, which should’ve topped out at around 90 minutes, lurches through a hit-and-miss midsection that’s rarely as compelling (or laugh-out-loud funny) as one might’ve anticipated. By the time the decent-enough (albeit almost egregiously silly) climax rolls around, Junior has confirmed its place as a thoroughly middle-of-the-road Reitman/Schwarzenegger collaboration that fares slightly better than Twins (but worse than Kindergarten Cop).

**1/2 out of ****