While "Matinee" might not be the very best history lesson, the film is lots of fun and focuses on some events you really don't hear a lot about today. The film is set during one of the tensest times during the Cold War--during the Cuban Missile Crisis. To make things worse, everything in the film takes place in Key West--which is only a short distance from Cuba. So, not surprisingly, everyone is tense--wondering if maybe the world is soon coming to an end.Into this scary times arrives a weird showman (John Goodman)--a man obviously strongly inspired by William Castle. His film, "Mant", is a typical early 60s monster film--complete with atomic radiation and giant bugs. And, like Castle, he's installed all the many silly gimmicks in the theater--like having ALL of Castle's films rolled into one. There's the fake nurse (Cathy Moriarty) in the lobby having folks sign off on a form releasing the theater from responsibility of their deaths from fright, the guy dressed up in a 'mant' costume running through the theater, the electrified seats...and more. It's all amazingly silly but also quite fun and nostalgic. My only reservation is the character of the girl who rebels against this hysteria--she just seemed very anachronistic--like putting a child of the late 70s or early 80s into the early 60s. Still, I could let go of this and just enjoy--and I am sure you will. The movie did a great job of capturing the flavor of Castle's odd sort of genius.A few final notes: John Goodman was great, it was nice to see Dick Miller (from MANY Roger Corman films) in a bit role as well as Omri Katz (from "Eerie, Indiana") in the film.

Joe Dante just doesn't know when to stop. That's always been his problem and most likely always will be. So, half of Matinée (the William Castle half) is fun and affectionate mostly, and the MANT scenes, although a little too smart aleck for their own good, are beautifully done. But trying to shoehorn that plot into a cliché-ridden Cuban missile scare story just doesn't work - it simply sucks the energy out of the film, and the climax is truly terrible - they didn't need the drama of the balcony collapsing - it's like Screen writing 101 - "Oh, we need one more really dramatic obstacle here." It's awful and I'm quite certain that it contributed in a large way to the movie's box-office failure. And for those of us who grew up back then, I cannot name you one single occurrence of sitting in a brightly-lit movie theater watching a film. Sorry, Joe, didn't happen. Ever. What would have been so difficult to have it dark in the theater but lit so that you could see everyone. Hundreds of films have done it without much of a problem. That alone keeps taking you completely out of the film.Nice Goldsmith score, well edited, well shot, but, as with a lot of Mr. Dante's films, despite enjoyable parts misses the mark.

Director Joe Dante's homage/movie-valentine to William Castle, featuring John Goodman as a B-movie filmmaker and theatrical showman in 1962 Florida working tirelessly to get the kids of Key West into the neighborhood theater for his latest monster masterpiece, "Mant!" Elements of real-life history (with President Kennedy warning the country about the crisis with Cuba), teen-time romance, and shameless self-promotion doesn't jell, and Goodman is amiable but uncommitted. The black-and-white scenes from "Mant!", in Rumble-Rama sound, are funny but--as if we need to be clued-in this just a satire--are far more ridiculous than need be. The teenage actors are alternately bored and boring, while one boy's mother--her husband away in the Navy--cries while watching home-movies in the middle of the night (for that extra sentimental punch). One is never sure when Dante is joshing or when he wants to be taken seriously. Portions of "Matinee" are nostalgic and funny, and the final shots are sweet, but the timing is always two-beats off, and the scenes in the brightly-lit movie theater are never convincing. *1/2 from ****

This isn't such a very well known film (at least I never heard of it before I watched it) and actually that is a god-awful shame, as "Matinee" is a joyously vivid, versatile and refreshingly imaginative little comedy. "Matinee" is director Joe Dante's ultimate tribute to typically 50's Sci-Fi B-movies and massively promoted gimmick-laden low-budget flicks; particularly the repertoire of the legendary William Castle. In one of his most glorious roles to date, John Goodman depicts the unscrupulous and sleazy horror movie producer Lawrence Woolsey, who is practically the reincarnation of William Castle, what with his sly and shameless salesmanship techniques and continuous wide-mouthed smile. At the highpoint of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Woolsey jaunts out to Key West – where the Navy and population hectically prepares for a bomb attack – in order to proudly present his newest and supposedly most shocking motion picture named "Mant". "Mant" is a silly shock feature about a man slowly mutating into a gigantic ant after being exposed to nuclear radiation, and for the big premiere Woolsey stuffed the film theater with horrid decorations and gimmicks to raise extra fear in the audience. With the threat of actual bombing attack going on outside the theater, Woolsey bumps into a lot of protest and resistance from the adult population in Key West, but luckily the younger and horror-crazed generation are wildly enthusiast about the upcoming matinée preview. With "Matinee", the still incredibly underrated director Joe Dante delivered another delicious and charming movie. The extended bits and clips from the fictional movie "Mant" masterfully capture the essence of 1950's B-movie cinema, with grotesque ideas and effects, cheesy nonsensical dialogs and wooden acting performances. The real William Castle actually never made such a type of monster movie, but the gimmicks and promotional stunts (like buzzers underneath the seats and guys in rubber suits running around) are right up his delightful alley! But "Matinee" is a terrifically clever movie on other levels as well. Apart from a wonderful homage to horror cinema, it also contains an admirable "coming of age" sub plot and it effectively parodies the mass hysteria going on around the time of the Cold War. Whilst the adult population of Key West practices their duck & cover bomb alarms and prepare their shelters, the teenagers are more concerned about finding a date to go see "Mant" on Saturday. The acting performances are fantastic (like his monster "Mant", John Goodman himself is larger than life!), the decors and atmosphere of the early 60's are marvelously re-enacted and – in good old Joe Dante tradition – there are multiple cameos of horror veterans, like Dick Miller, Kevin McCarthy and Robert Cornthwaite. This is truly a film meant for genuine horror movie buffs, but nevertheless a stupendously enjoyable comedy for all type of audiences.