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Kindergarten cop principal2/16/2024 ![]() That dark side is particularly evident in a subplot about child abuse. ![]() The film also has a surprisingly dark edge to it, via the visible trauma that has been inflicted on Dominic (twins Christian and Joseph Cousins) – snatched away by his mother Joyce (Penelope Ann Miller) as a toddler and living in quiet fear of the ‘bad people’ returning to steal him back. It all adds a little wrinkle to the otherwise fairly silly premise of a tough narcotics cop pretending to teach five-year-olds. ![]() His undercover position ultimately acts as a kind of healing: it makes him realise he is not happy in his job and offers an escape into something else. Kimble is divorced with a child he never sees, and he clearly regrets that. The screenplay, credited to Murray Salem, Herschel Weingrod, and Timothy Harris, smartly finds unobtrusive corners to drop in small moments of character and resonance. I think a lot of that comes down to how well the film picks a high concept comedic premise (Schwarzenegger teaching kindergarten!) and not only commits to it, but finds genuine warmth in the concept. Even in director Ivan Reitman’s own career it tends to be overlooked in favour of higher-profile hits like Ghostbusters and Twins. In most respects it is about as generic and ordinary as a late 20th century Hollywood comedy can be, and yet I keep coming back to it every few years. Why would they? It’s a disposable family comedy, designed to be consumed and forgotten after making a tidy profit for Universal Pictures. It is also precisely the sort of film that nobody ever writes about. It was a commercial smash hit back in 1990, and further emphasised Arnold Schwarzenegger’s second career stream as a comedic performer. We never really talk about Kindergarten Cop. A first-day mishap has Kimble stuck masquerading as a kindergarten teacher, and he is soon completely out of his depth. Hardened police detective John Kimble (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sets up an undercover operation to track down the runaway girlfriend of drug lord Cullen Crisp (Richard Tyson), after she absconded with three million dollars of his drug money.
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