tavm Review of Big Top Pee-wee

Big Top Pee-wee (1988)

I dedicate this review of Big Top Pee-wee to the late Paul Reubens

[7/10 · 7 August 2023]

While I had this movie on my recording device for months, I only decided to now watch it because of the recent passing of Paul Reubens. This was his second movie as Pee Wee Herman after Pee Wee's Big Adventure. This also came out when he was also doing his TV show "Pee Wee's Playhouse" which was a very popular Saturday morning program for kids. I recognized at the time that Pee Wee was a little more adult-like in some behavior (like what he does to the Penelope Ann Miller character during their picnic scene) and I also knew about the triangle that would develop when Valeria Golino would appear. Still, it's mostly a kiddie-vibe much of the time since in this one Pee Wee lives in a farm with animals he treats like friends and welcomes the circus after a storm brings them to his farm though the other townspeople (who seem mostly elderly) don't welcome them. The first 30 minutes provides plenty of hilarity while the rest of it is more leisurely with some amusements. The ending seemed anti-climatic but I enjoyed this for what it was. A few years after this, Paul Reubens would get scandalized when he got caught doing something in an adult film cinema causing him to be blacklisted for a while. Be that as it may, he was surely one of the most unique of comic minds, that's for sure! Rest in peace.