Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Memorable, crazy movie

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Clifford is a dreadful film. The first real problem is taking an almost middle aged man and passing him off as a ten year old. Seriously? Get this, we (the audience) see a 40 year old but the other movie characters see a ten year old. Yeh. Then they angle the camera to make him look a foot shorter than all of the "real" grownups around him. The next major problem is the other characters in the movie. Major annoying over-actors, always yelling everything they say in such a strained, exaggerated, draining way, especially Clifford's dad Richard Kind, Clifford's uncle Charles Grodin, and other characters in the movie. Clifford himself also took part in the exaggerated yelling along with other horrible qualities he had. Richard Kind can't handle his son's behavior anymore and begs his brother Grodin to take him, then when Grodin says yes, Richard shows the utmost relief. It doesn't take too long though for Grodin to feel the same way Richard did. Then there's a big problem with Clifford himself (played by Martin Short). Even if he wasn't playing a boy, he is a creepy freak. He (as Roger Ebert put it) fawns at people like a horny spaniel. Especially Charles Grodin's (Clifford's uncle's) wife. He sings in a loud, embarrassing way in public. Several times (such as screeching "San Francisco, open your Golden gate" at the top of his lungs then yelling in a high pitched feminine voice "ahhhhhhh" while running through the train station with his arms out. Very painful experience watching that). Also, Clifford is maliciously evil and vindictive. He literally shuts off a commercial airplane's engines causing it to quickly drop 10,000 feet nearly crashing (who finds that amusing?). He plots an elaborate scheme to frame Grodin for planting a bomb. He freaks out mischievously several times such as yelling "I want a whole gang of chocolate!" after Grodin says he can't take him to Dinosaur world. He had a freaked obsession with wanting to go to Dinosaur world, which is actually the reason he shut off the plane's engines. You would think him doing that would cause him more than just being thrown off the plane, he should've been locked up, he seriously endanged a couple hundred people's lives. And then there's the way Clifford talks, with the looks on his face, it made me cringe (and that's bad enough without him saying things like "my no-no place" and many other embarrassing things) Then, if that's not all enough, there are some awful jokes thrown in, such as a couple of transvestites showing up right after a character says "I can spot a phony a mile away". Terrible, terrible movie.There was only one moment of the film that wasn't horrible, only one semi amusing moment. Clifford kept saying all throughout the film " bestest looking this" or "bestest looking that" about something or someone. When Clifford was hanging from a ledge during a roller coaster accident, and was asking Grodin to save him, Grodin says "I'm trying to figure what horrors you'll release into the world if I do save you. What if you got your hands on plutonium? (Imitating Clifford) look at me! I made the bestest looking nuclear bomb in the whole world!" That was the one funny moment in a film of every, and I mean every other moment being horrid. Even with that one funny bit, I still only gave this film one star. Without it, I would've given it a zero.

The only reason I watched this whole thing through was it just had to get better at some point. It HAD to! There was just too much talent on the screen for this mess to keep stumbling along at low speed. Martin Short stars as the title character who is apparently a ten year old boy. At least he is supposed to be. Anyway, he is truly a monster. He plays a series of cruel practical jokes on his uncle played by Charles Grodin. Grodin has agreed to watch the little brat for whatever reason I don't quite recall. He hopes that taking care of the little tyke will impress Mary Steenburgen whom he is intending to marry. Grodin is basically one of those long-term bachelors (like yours truly) who waited until practically middle age to settle down. Hopefully bonding with the young man will show his lady that he is in fact a good catch.The first time you look at Martin Short, and accept the premise that he is in fact a little boy, you begin to expect to laugh. But the filmmakers must have thought the premise was enough, since they just don't give Clifford and his uncle enough funny things to do. Most of the pranks are cruel, and a few are admittedly funny. The only real laughs I had were watching Grodin's reactions to some of the pranks. He was a really talented guy, but it looks like he mostly retired after this came out. Hard to blame him. There is a stupid subplot involving Dabney Coleman trying to win Steenburgen over and eventually almost trying to rape her in the back of a limo. Ha ha. The film has a cheap look to it, and its no surprise to learn it was actually filmed in 1990. This was during a bleak period of American cinema when even some of the better films were just lazily made. The climax of this film takes place at a Dinosaur themed amusement park that looks incredibly cheap and mostly made with cardboard and matte paintings. The musical score is a generic up-beat, by-the-numbers deal that sounds like something Danny Elfman would have wadded up and thrown in the garbage in a fit of despair.The stars of this film deserved something better, and I have no doubt that better writers and a better director could have had something here. But as it stands, Clifford is an unfunny, mean-spirited mess. And a big waste of talent. 3 of 10 stars.The Hound.

CLIFFORD, in my opinion, is an excellent comedy about a ten-year-old menace from hell. If you ask me, the stunts that Clifford (Martin Short) pulled were absolutely hilarious. Also, I thought that Sarah (Mary Steenburgen) was a very beautiful woman, and she was truly meant to be with Martin (Charles Grodin). However, while I was watching this movie, I wondered how she couldn't see Clifford's true colors. When Julien (Richard Kind) and Theodora (Jennifer Savidge) were yelling at Clifford, I felt really good. In addition, I thought that Gerald (Dabney Coleman) and Parker (G.D. Spradlin) were pure a*******. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that everything about this film was excellent, especially the performances. Now, in conclusion, to all you Martin Short, Charles Grodin, or Mary Steenburgen fans who have not seen this excellent comedy about a ten-year-old menace from hell, I highly recommend it.

This is one of my favorite movies. I am longtime SCTV fan, in fact, it's my favorite show. Still, I think this movie works on a level outside the initial viewing and comparison to usual movies. The character Clifford is the archetypal prankster child that has probably lived in all of us. You can look at it in a Jungian psychological way -- Clifford has the Trickster archetype in full swing. He's also an example of the Fruedian Id without a Superego. When I first watched it, I didn't think it was that great, in fact, you might even say that I can understand why others gave it a lower rating. But when you look at the larger forces at play in the movie, it may become very enjoyable.