The 1980s were crammed with pointless forgettable adolescent comedies and sequels of which this entry is a prime example. Contrary to popular thought, the original Meatballs was really no classic but merely a mildly amusing rude comedy which served as a launching point for Bill Murray's acting career. This in-name-only sequel has no returning cast members and only shares the summer camp setting, but manages some uniqueness for one weakness and one fascinating turn. The main "plot" centers on a rivalry between congenial Richard Mulligan's camp of likable losers and shrill Hamilton Camp's military camp, which builds to a climactic slapstick boxing match with representatives of each respective camp deciding the futures of the camps. Unfortunately, given that Mulligan is not much of a presence and Camp is such a buffoonish cartoon villain, it is impossible to have much rooting interest. Subplots galore come fast and furious. The unique weakness is that the film cannot decide whether it wishes to be a rude adolescent comedy directed to pre-teens or a smarmy sex comedy directed to older teens and thus fails at both. A wretched subplot with a forgettable cast of youngsters sheltering a cheap Yiddish-accented E.T. is included for the tots, but is so bad it would only antagonize them. Then we get numerous scenes where 30-ish horny camp counselor Archie Hahn and his buxom co-counselor Misty Rowe are constantly interrupted in their quest for sex by various chaos. The less said about John Larroquette's mincing gay caricature, the better. Kim Richards and John Mengatti are on hand as a virginal camp newbie and a reluctant reform school guy named Flash forced into being a counselor who naturally start a flirtation. The acting by both suggests that they are better than the material handed them. An interesting turnabout is that the more experienced female counselors decide to band together and help the sheltered Richards see her first naked man before the end of the summer. This is interesting as this is normally a subplot reserved for male characters and this is one of the few teenage movies of this decade that actually had the refreshing insight that female teens may be just as sexually curious as males. What a novelty! It is also the funniest subplot in that the girls various attempts naturally result in confusion, chaos and disaster. Unfortunately, the PG rating restricts any nudity from showing up, so guys looking for any skin from the busty Rowe will not get any and the big climactic scene where the hunky dreamboat Mengatti winds up stark naked in public is filmed with such ridiculous modesty that it ranks more as an anti-climax. For all that, the sequel is largely inoffensive and certainly is better than the dismal two follow-ups (one featuring a young and super-nerdy Patrick Dempsey).
Review of Meatballs Part II
