Genre Guessstimation – Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s Genre has been chosen by Simon of Moustache Movie News and it is Road Trip Movies.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of December by sending them to roadtripsimon@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Simon!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Road Trip Movies.…

“There’s a lotta things about me you don’t know anything about, Dottie. Things you wouldn’t understand. Things you couldn’t understand. Things you shouldn’t understand.” – Pee-Wee

Number of Times Seen – At least 5 times (Theater in ’85, cable, 25 Feb 2008 and 3 Dec 2017)

Brief Synopsis – After his bike gets stolen, a man travels across America to try and find it.

My Take on it – When trolling for films to watch for this series this month, I came across this title and recalled that I use to enjoy it as a kid, yet hadn’t seen it in quite some time.

Unfortunately, this film was much more interesting to me when it came out than it does now.

The character of pee-Wee Herman was a fad of the 80’s and just can’t stand the test of time.

The character’s antics get annoying real quickly and I just wanted the agony to end.

I’m still quite amazed as to how he had such a successful career for a while…guess it must be subliminal…

The fact that this was Tim Burton’s first film as a director is quite interesting and it’s easy to see how he uses his usual style here, but overall the story just desn’t work.

Te plot is completely silly and nothing significant really happens here to make it more interesting.

The only scene that I’ve ever found to be fun is the “Large-Marge” scene and the fact that she died on the exact day I was born (see trivia below) says a whole lot to me about why I like it.

The rest of the film can easily be skipped.

Bottom Line – Film that just isn’t as good and innovative now as it was when it originally came out.  Herman’s antics get annoying real quickly and it amazes me that he had such a lucrative career at one point. The story itself is completely silly and just doesn’t work in any way, shape or form. The Large-Marge scene is the only one that I’ve ever found funny.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – During the “Large Marge” sequence in the diner, her memorial, with a death date of January 11, 1974, is briefly visible on the wall. The actors say that she died exactly 10 years ago, so the story told in the movie takes place in January 1984. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Not even close. This film is just too silly and doesn’t work as well now as it did 30+ years ago.

Rating – Razzie Worthy

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