SnoopyStyle Country girl Rebecca Warner (Carla Gugino) from South Dakota starts college in Los Angeles. Her parents (Lane Smith, Cindy Pickett) are shocked by the wild liberal atmosphere. Her father is especially concerned about the resident adviser Crawl (Pauly Shore) living across the hall. Crawl takes care of homesick Becca and they become best friends. Another shock for the family happens when Becca returns home for the Thanksgiving break with Crawl and a whole new look. Her boyfriend Travis tries to propose. She pushes Crawl to help but he comes up with a bad lie that they're already engaged.Pauly Shore can either be fun or be very annoying. He certainly has many detractors. I think he's fun in this one more than anything annoying. He's very good at being a fish out of water. Most importantly, he's not a simple slacker. He tries to fit in which is endearing. The story is fine. Overall, there is more good than bad as long as one is not an automatic Pauly Shore hater.

FlashCallahan Country girl Rebecca begins college in Los Angeles. There she meets Crawl, a student who is crazy, unpredictable and wild. During the holidays she brings him with her home, as she feels sorry for him. Her parents have never seen anything like him and are shocked when Rebecca tells them that they are engaged to be married. It was the beginning of Pauly Shores short run trying to make it big, and obviously some studio thought California/Encino man was a good showcase for him, and so gave him a contract. This was the first movie, and much like Adam Sandler, you really have to like the man to like the movies.The film consists of people you recognise from other things, Carla Gugino looking really young, and Shore doing his stoner shtick that he did for the next three cinematic releases.As a standalone vehicle, a fish out of water comedy isn't a bad choice, and having a city boy come to the farm should spell hilarity, but it just spells out mild chuckling every now and again.It's the formula for easy nineties comedy, ninety minutes long, three perfunctory acts, something bad happens to out hero just before the middle of the third act, and there is a Scooby Doo ending.It's pretty clunky, dumb stuff, but its kind of sadistic fun to see a studios gamble failing with every film that was made.Brendan Fraser even makes a cameo, just to let people know Shore was in at least one good film....

Steve Pulaski When it comes to Son in Law, it's a mixed bag. Its premise is cute, but its delivery is a little strange. It's a comedy with Pauly Shore, so you're not going to get very clever humor. You're going to get below the belt jokes a lot of the time which is perfectly acceptable. As long as you know what you're getting into, you have no right to complain about the jokes.Now do the jokes work? Most of them do, but most don't come from the lead actor/actress. The most jokes come from the girl's brother played by Patrick Renna, famous from The Sandlot. Such a weird little thing to say that the character in the movie who isn't on the cover or mentioned anywhere on the back is the funniest character in the film. And, at the time, he was only known for his role in The Sandlot and I doubt many kids who took the time to see that film did the same for this one.The film is about a farm girl named Rebecca Warner (Guigino) leaving her South Dakota farm to go to College in California. Her parents, mainly her father (Smith), are skeptical about this College and worry that is may tamper with her original roots. She meets Crawl (Shore) who is the residential adviser of her dorm. Crawl is an off the wall kind of friend, and Rebecca thinks it's brilliant to bring him home to her strict family.In California, Crawl fits right in. In South Dakota, Crawl is a fish out of water. The rest of the movie is compiled of Crawl's misadventures to try to impress the family of Rebecca. One scene includes him of stealing one of the families machines and taking it for a joy ride throughout their field with John Denver's Thank God I'm a Country Boy playing in the background. I'm not proud to say it, but that scene was hilarious.There is also a strange, not very well put together love subplot with Rebecca and her boyfriend. There is nothing to even show that Rebecca even loves or cares about her boyfriend. Most of the movie is her blowing him off on various occasions. Also, we are lead to believe that Rebecca is in love with Crawl. Honestly, that isn't too believable because there is nothing about Crawl's appearance or personality that could make him attract a girl like Rebecca. We are constantly told she is a smart and potential-filled girl who wants to be a journalist, but somehow, she falls for someone with no hopes, dreams, other than getting through to the next day.Son in Law doesn't have the humor or chemistry Bio-Dome or Encino Man did, but it's better than Jury Duty and a little better than In the Army Now. The one satisfying aspect of this is you can see Link (Fraser), the caveman from Encino Man (done two years prior to this), in a cameo role. That and the fact this is Shore's "Weasel" personality at full force. That can be a pro or a con. I, for one, had no problem with it.Starring: Pauly Shore, Carla Gugino, Lane Smith, Cindy Pickett, Tiffani Thiessen, Dan Gauthier, Patrick Renna, Dennis Burkley, and Brendan Fraser. Directed by: Steve Rash.

n-mo This quote comes to us from Alicia Silverstone's character in "Clueless," a mid-1990's American teeny-bopper update of Jane Austen's "Emma." I saw that film before I saw this one, and I never understood what it meant until I saw this latter. Here, one will find every cliché under the sun. The idea of a sweet, pretty, innocent small-town farmer girl going to university in Los Angeles (or anywhere else, given the state of modern universities) is indeed ripe for excellent material, but this is definitely not it. Character development is about as deep as a kiddie pool.Oh... and as for the jerk suitor? Frankly, in retrospect, I respect him for having the guts to try to take back his girl from such a twerp, however sinister the means!