Dr Alex (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a button-downed scientist without a life away from the lab. He has joined forces with a leading LA gynecologist, Dr. Larry (Danny Devito) to develop a new and useful fertility drug. Its very promising. However, a heavy from the FDA (Frank Langella) refuses to give approval for experimentation on humans. What a disappointment! This leaves Larry with a lucrative practice but Alex is going to have to vacate his lab. That is, until Dr Diana (Emma Thompson) literally comes rolling into the same lab on top of a freezer holding her donor eggs. Falling on top of Alex, it is agreed they will share the nice space. Then, Larry gets an even zanier idea. Why not fertilize one of Diana's donor eggs with Alex's sperm and implant the embryo in Dr. Alex, all the while using their new pregnancy-enhancing drug? What, a pregnant male? Never mind that he doesn't have a womb, the baby will just grow in his abdomen for a little while. But, once Alex is pregnant, he starts having morning sickness, emotional swings, and a growing belly. Larry wants to end the pregnancy, as their drug has proved effective. But, hold on. Alex wants his baby! Also pregnant is Larry's ex wife (Pamela Reed), who demands Larry be her doctor. Then, too, Diana and Alex, both devoted scientists, end up falling in love with each other, while Alex tries to hide his ballooning frame. The FDA man comes snooping into the whole affair. Will Alex deliver a baby from the first ever male pregnancy? This sweet darling film is just the kind Hollywood doesn't deliver any more. Its a romcom with a twist as Alex becomes the first male to REALLY LEARN how pregnancy is a wonderful and difficult time. Schwarzenegger has never been more attractive and funny while Thompson, Devito, Langella, Reed, and all of the others do great work, too. The sets, costumes (you should see Arnold dressed up as a giantess to conceal his identity), script and direction combine for one comedic film. Listen, romantic comedy lovers. You may have to seek out films from long ago to satisfy your hunger for funny love tales. Hollywood has thrown the romcom into the X file.

By reuniting the incongruous Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny de Vito duo again, the exploit of Ivan Reitman's "Junior" is to make an even more touching and funny comedy than his previous "Twins", once again, based on the same premise of an improbable scientific situation.Improbable is quite an understatement. It's crazy enough to have a man facing pregnancy but out of all the actors who could pull it with more or less believability, hiring the ultimate tough guy, the one with the most masculine height and bone structure was quite a risky move. Risky but not absurd, there are times when you're entitled to a certain level of absurdity when making a comedy movie, but you can tell that "Junior" ambition reached higher than simple laughs, it wanted to tell a heart-warming story, a comedy with a heart, as I like to say.This is why the casting was a masterstroke. This isn't "Twins" where Schwarzenegger's perfection was the illustration of a successful genetic manipulation and De Vito, all the opposite, here, Arnie's casting isn't crucial to the part, neither is Danny De Vito, but at the end, you realize that the movie couldn't have worked with better actors. De Vito has this 'streetwise businessman with sharp teeth' thing justifying such a gutsy idea, and Arnie is the cold European scientist so dedicated to his profession that we believe he can be lured into that crazy project.Yet the film could have sinned by cynicism, showing that there's a mad scientist or sorcerer apprentice hiding behind every doctor, and that laboratories would trade ethics for the financial success of a revolutionary medicine, in the film's case, one to increase women's fertility and estrogen production. But they're not allowed to test the medicine on women. Never mind, the bounds of science are unlimited. And after all, didn't Jenner inoculated himself the smallpox virus to check if the vaccination worked, there comes a time where every scientist must question his vocation and push it to the extreme, for science's sake.This left me a little perplexed but by an extraordinary coincidence, the same day I saw "junior", I found a documentary about the history of medicine and viruses, and not only I found out that Jenner actually tested the smallpox vaccination on a little boy, which was even more debatable and could've earned him a radiation had it failed? But that it took almost two decades for penicillin to really get its worldwide attention because Fleming was a good researcher but not much of a marketer and couldn't even get the implications his discovery would make.So, in a way, there's a little mad scientist here, a businessmen there, but it's always for people's own good, and this is where "Junior" really takes you, it's not a movie about lobbying or genetic manipulation. It's the story of a man who discovers his maternal side by the simple process of feeling a baby inside him, and Arnold Schwarzenegger makes it not only believable but also touching, he doesn't overplay, within his own (not so limited) range, he finds the perfect note to draw a touched smile in your face, and there's one wonderful moment where he De Vito's character touch the belly and smiles, so moving you forget the implausibility of the situation.But there can't be a film about pregnancy without women, and both Pamela Reed and Emma Thompson plays respectively De Vito's ex-wife and the scientist who took Arnie's laboratory. Thompson is such a gifted actress that she knows how to make you laugh from rather predictable situations, and her involuntary involvement in the pregnancy gives a film a nice little twist. To close the gallery, there's also Frank Langella who plays the obligatory antagonist to the story but the essential is in the pregnancy.Indeed, they are the reason to be of the film, and everything is handled in such a way that you never feel it over the top. Take when Arnie is disguised as a woman, anyone would laugh at the immediate sight and while it's it's not Dustin Hoffman in "Tootsie", Arnie gives a wonderful explanation about the reason his looks don't necessarily match his gender, and we buy it because within the film own zaniness, there's something touching and involving and leading us to a wonderful climax.Now, does the film reflects some gender views that in each man, there's a woman inside, I think it's much more conservative than that. Indeed, by becoming more feminine through pregnancy, there's something that might imply that the main identifying aspect of women is the capability to give life, to carry life, and maybe this is why women are generally, the most protective, the least destructive and the most caring of both sexes. But if this sounds misogynistic to say it, well, that's how sad today's world has become.

Rating-3/10Junior is a film by Ivan Reitman that not only doesn't play out so well, but also breathes absurdity. The film stars hulking Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito where Arnie gets pregnant, it's the kind of plot made from hell, oh and also Ivan Reitman. It just doesn't work for me and comes off messy at best, it isn't the worst movie of all time and definitely not within comedy, but here are my thoughts below.The plot is just confused and I mean in a way where the story just rides along not really knowing where it is going, can be fun and will be for some, but still not memorable. It isn't funny and for me that is it's greatest sin, the jokes don't come and the direction from Reitman doesn't add anything whatsoever to the writing that strips this of all respect.Schwarzenegger deserves a bit of respect for giving it a go, not in a kind of good way but he tries his hardest and he acts in the only way he knows how. Emma Thompson comes in as the new Doctor on the scene Diana, she is OK here but she doesn't do anything to help, this is the kind of movie that can truly ruin careers, thank god this didn't contain the very very best(at least at the time). I think to really enjoy this you have to not only laugh at a lot, but also be won over by the sweetness of the plot, not by the depth, this is one movie truly lacking in true depth. If you want a serious plot, well this tries to be one but turns out one massive joke, that also isn't funny. Kevin Wade and Chris Conrad don't write this well enough to entertain most, those easily won over then yes, but this just doesn't work right.As the great Roger Ebert once said about Junior "I know this sounds odd, but Schwarzenegger is perfect for the role. Observe his acting carefully in Junior, and you'll see skills that many serious actors could only envy." Now I don't agree with this quote but I see where he is coming from, Arnie seems to as I mentioned before, match the role and he makes the character seem more real(to say he is a huge pregnant man). Danny DeVito doesn't supply him with enough for me though, now DeVito for some is great but I have never loved him, and here he further proves me right.I think finding positives here is as hard as it can get, this isn't the worst film ever but it is hard to find lots and lots of positives. I liked the sets if that is even a real reason, well OK it isn't but It really is hard, The plot I guess is fun(at times) and can as I have also said before, be sweet and Arnie gives his all in making his character more human. Overall a pretty bad movie but one that even today is still remembered fairly well. Reitman directs DeVito and Schwarzenegger again after they came together in "Twins(1988)", but he doesn't succeed in making these two classic although I will say he does make this classic as that movie where Arnold Schwarzenegger gets pregnant, and I'll use my consensus one more time, good for some, not fun for most.

As 'ridiculous' as the concept is, ignoring all the scientific inaccuracies, 'Junior' is a lot of fun. What would happen if men could carry babies in their 'womb'? Well you might want to try 'Junior'. Obviously the film wasn't meant to be taken seriously and that's how director Ivan Reitman treats this. Hats off to Schwarzenneger, who had established himself as the action hero, for taking up the challenge. He does a great job. His abilities in comedy have been underrated and 'Junior' just gave him that right kind of boost. And when you have people like Danny Devito, Emma Thompson and Pamela Reed then you can certainly expect to laugh. Thompson's comic flair also remains underrated and she is hilarious here without having to resort to the formulaic comedic tactics. In terms of writing, there are many funny dialogues that allow the scenes tickle. Even the more 'intense' sequences are loaded with funny dialogue (for example the sequence where Alex confronts Diana about Junior). 'Junior' is a movie that once can easily enjoy with the family. It was fun to revisit after years.