Junior (1994) Review

Title: Junior
Year: 1994
Director: Ivan Reitman
Country: US
Language: English

I watched Junior (1994) when I was far too young. This movie was recurring nightmare fuel for an impressionable 6 year old boy, who thought the plot was real. "Boys can get pregnant!?". My anxiety went through the roof as I struggled to understand basic anatomy & was convinced I could get myself pregnant at any moment. "How do babies even get made!?" After a few weeks of trying to protect myself from whatever made boys pregnant, "Does eating apples cause it!?" I went to my parents who informed me of some pretty basic common knowledge.

As part of a fertility research project, a male scientist (Arnold Schwarzenegger) agrees to carry a pregnancy in his own body

Even in 2024, I'm quite baffled by that a film - where Arnold Schwarzenegger gets pregnant - was greenlit and financed at all. How did so many people think this would work!? In the 90's he was at the height of his popularity as an action star; Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) was a critical and commercial hit. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to say "how about in the next film I get pregnant?" The most shocking part is that it works as a concept & proves to be a fairly entertaining - albeit sometimes terrifying- film. 

In Roger Ebert's review, he says that actors should be envious of Schwarzenegger's range, and I certainly agree with that sentiment. Arnold can be vicious (Terminator), funny (Kindergarden Cop) and somehow sweet (Junior) without losing his aura of being a marketable action star. Junior will have you on a different emotional journey depending on when in your life you watch it. Over the decades I've found it sweet, disgusting, creepy, absurd, funny and just about every emotion you can think of. I don't know if I hate the film or am fond of it. 

Sometimes I find the "acting like a pregnant woman" humor sexist and off-putting, while other times I think it's hilarious because of the way Schwarzenegger expresses himself. It's juvenile humour that, (sort of?) rises, above by making a statement about how hard it is to grow a kid inside you. I don't know where this would land with audiences in the 2020's. For now I'll say, watch it with reservation.