Captain Ron

Splashy adventures in the Caribbean as a mild-mannered big city businessman inherits a yacht and talks his reluctant family into a spontaneous month-long sea voyage. Martin Short is the oft-frustrated family man, whipped and stifled by the corporate world, who almost instantly regrets hiring his polar opposite (a mostly shirtless, mulleted and eye-patched Kurt Russell) to teach his family how to control their new toy. Most of the fun lies in watching Russell do whatever he wants - flirting with the wife and daughter, teaching the son to drink and gamble, pushing the boat to the point of disintegration - which rankles the father who sees himself being replaced by a newer, hipper model. There's nothing **** here. It's a simple recipe that coasts on easy laughs and nice scenery, but at least it has a unique angle and a decent amount of heart. Short is vanilla and snobby as the leading man, **** and unlikable, but that's how the character is written. Russell, on the other hand, pushes an overshadowing support role, one which could've easily been just as grating, into something more personable and endearing. We buy into Captain Ron's world philosophy because the actor also buys into it. As formulaic, predictable family comedies go, one could do far worse. Bonus points to those who choose to lean into the winking urban legend that this is how Snake Plissken relaxes between escapes.

The great cast, cinematography and production quality just weren't enough to carry me to sweet cinematic nirvana. Captain Ron starts with an interesting mid-life-crisis premise but things quickly deteriorate thanks mostly to the awful screenplay, poor direction and plot with many setup purely for cheap visual comedy. Its a shame as the production has a great sense of fun to it but the two dimensional characters never come to life. Despite these flaws the charismatic cast provide ample entertainment if you're in the mood for 1990's fun times.