Movie Review

Carpool (1996)

EW's GRADE
D+

Details With: Tom Arnold and Rhea Perlman

Hard to hate, but just about impossible to like, Carpool casts ace character actor David Paymer (Quiz Show) as an uptight Seattle ad exec who drives his kids to school one morning only to have the minivan commandeered by a chuckleheaded would-be bank robber (Tom Arnold). The kids bond with the thief, many police cars are smashed, Dad learns to chill, and — in a climax lifted directly from every episode of Bewitched — the whole gang pitches in to help Dad win the big account. Arnold, as puckish on screen as he is boorish off, gamely tries to enliven the proceedings with deft timing, but the material just isn't there. Carpool is affably stupid Saturday-matinee fare — good for opiating the kids for a few hours — but let's just say it's no Big Bully. D+

Originally posted Sep 06, 1996 Published in issue #343 Sep 06, 1996 Order article reprints

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