Bill Rago is a divorced advertising executive who is down on his luck. After he loses his job, he finds himself having to live off unemployment benefits until he is offered the unexpected job of being a teacher in the U. S. Army. Given the unenviable task of teaching a bunch of underachieving misfits, and preventing them from flunking out of the military, Bill finds his work more than cut out for him. The reluctant teacher however manages to unexpectedly grab their interest, when he introduces them to the works of William Shakespeare, and in doing so he helps them find a passion for learning, while he finds one for teaching.
Released in movie theatres back in 1994, this vehicle for the comedy talents of the diminutive Danny Devito, tanked at the box office amid a sea of poor reviews. Directed by Penny Marshall who hit it big critically and commercially with 1988's Big, and had some success with 1992's nostalgia-laden, period sports comedy, A League of Their Own. Renaissance Man is pretty much in the same mold as both movies as it's designed to tug at the heartstrings, and like the latter of Marshall's two previous comedies, it is pretty cheesy. That being said and despite some of the valid negative criticisms leveled at the movie, Marshall's comedy which is a cross between Dead Poet's Society and Stripes, is decidedly better than its negative reputation.
Centering around Devito's acerbic advertising executive Bill Rago, who has a knack for rubbing people the wrong way. Whether it be his workmates and clients or his teenage daughter, who just wants her father to believe in her, and approve of her passion for astronomy. It's pretty much established from the off that Bill has some social issues, and it comes as little or no surprise that he is also a divorcee. Upon finding himself fired from his job, he initially manages to potentially alienate himself from his sassy Unemployment Clerk played wonderfully by Jennifer Lewis in an all too brief role. The chemistry between her and Devito is quite palpable, and you can't help but feel it a shame that there aren't more scenes between the pair of them. Needless to say, it's his relationship with her where we really see tinges of the more affable likable side of Bill, before he is reluctantly sent to a teaching job within the U. S. Army.
Part and parcel of what the movie is, is a fish out of water story, with Bill having to contend with a class of rowdy misfits labeled with the unflattering moniker of the Double-D's, which stands for dumb as dog sh,...well, you get the idea. Given just six weeks to educate them or else they will find themselves drummed out of the Army. It's fair to say that Bill has his work cut out for him, but as with the typical conventions of movies of this ilk, he manages to eventually pique their interest, by introducing them to the works of William Shakespeare. While bonding and finding some common ground with them. Trite though it may be, the movie coasts on the overall charm of DeVito, while the then-young cast which includes a youthful Mark Wahlberg in his movie debut put in strong turns as his motley band of students.
Of course, as is always the case the course of teaching them doesn't run smoothly, with Bill also butting heads with Gregory Hine's surly, hard-nosed Drill Instructor, who had a chip on his shoulder from the moment he lays eyes on the beleaguered teacher. Although Bill himself has his own grievances with the military, which he at times is less than reluctant to voice. Therefore there is automatically a mutual antagonistic edge that the movie plays off of. As is Bill's initial exasperation with some of the more disruptive elements of his class, and you do come to sympathize to some degree with what he has to contend with, most namely being Kadeem Hardison's smart-alecky Private Jamaal Montgomery. A presence who proves to be at times the most grating, and obnoxious one. So much so, that it does come as something of a struggle to relate or connect with as early on he becomes pretty insufferable. Not least of all for Walberg's Private Tommy Lee Haywood, who proves equally frustrated by the smart-mouthed Montgomery.
When all is said and done though, it does get by on some of the charm and likeability of the rest of the cast, although admittedly it does at times descend into cheesiness, which includes the recruits putting on an impromptu rap performance, which incorporates the story of Hamlet. There are still some heartfelt moments of drama and pathos. One of which involves a young Private who claims his father died a hero in Vietnam, much to the skepticism of his fellow classmates. It also taps into the very real reality of the troubling social realities that lead many young men and women to join the army.
For the shortcomings it does have, Renaissance Man is not by any means the worst movie that DeVito has been associated with, and while it may not necessarily be 100% a completely accurate depiction of the military, (there have been criticisms of how military protocol is portrayed) if one can suspend disbelief, and just go with it, Renaissance Man is well acted and pretty distracting fare with some genuinely affecting and heartwarming moments when it doesn't indulge itself in the maudlin.
Released in movie theatres back in 1994, this vehicle for the comedy talents of the diminutive Danny Devito, tanked at the box office amid a sea of poor reviews. Directed by Penny Marshall who hit it big critically and commercially with 1988's Big, and had some success with 1992's nostalgia-laden, period sports comedy, A League of Their Own. Renaissance Man is pretty much in the same mold as both movies as it's designed to tug at the heartstrings, and like the latter of Marshall's two previous comedies, it is pretty cheesy. That being said and despite some of the valid negative criticisms leveled at the movie, Marshall's comedy which is a cross between Dead Poet's Society and Stripes, is decidedly better than its negative reputation.
Centering around Devito's acerbic advertising executive Bill Rago, who has a knack for rubbing people the wrong way. Whether it be his workmates and clients or his teenage daughter, who just wants her father to believe in her, and approve of her passion for astronomy. It's pretty much established from the off that Bill has some social issues, and it comes as little or no surprise that he is also a divorcee. Upon finding himself fired from his job, he initially manages to potentially alienate himself from his sassy Unemployment Clerk played wonderfully by Jennifer Lewis in an all too brief role. The chemistry between her and Devito is quite palpable, and you can't help but feel it a shame that there aren't more scenes between the pair of them. Needless to say, it's his relationship with her where we really see tinges of the more affable likable side of Bill, before he is reluctantly sent to a teaching job within the U. S. Army.
Part and parcel of what the movie is, is a fish out of water story, with Bill having to contend with a class of rowdy misfits labeled with the unflattering moniker of the Double-D's, which stands for dumb as dog sh,...well, you get the idea. Given just six weeks to educate them or else they will find themselves drummed out of the Army. It's fair to say that Bill has his work cut out for him, but as with the typical conventions of movies of this ilk, he manages to eventually pique their interest, by introducing them to the works of William Shakespeare. While bonding and finding some common ground with them. Trite though it may be, the movie coasts on the overall charm of DeVito, while the then-young cast which includes a youthful Mark Wahlberg in his movie debut put in strong turns as his motley band of students.
Of course, as is always the case the course of teaching them doesn't run smoothly, with Bill also butting heads with Gregory Hine's surly, hard-nosed Drill Instructor, who had a chip on his shoulder from the moment he lays eyes on the beleaguered teacher. Although Bill himself has his own grievances with the military, which he at times is less than reluctant to voice. Therefore there is automatically a mutual antagonistic edge that the movie plays off of. As is Bill's initial exasperation with some of the more disruptive elements of his class, and you do come to sympathize to some degree with what he has to contend with, most namely being Kadeem Hardison's smart-alecky Private Jamaal Montgomery. A presence who proves to be at times the most grating, and obnoxious one. So much so, that it does come as something of a struggle to relate or connect with as early on he becomes pretty insufferable. Not least of all for Walberg's Private Tommy Lee Haywood, who proves equally frustrated by the smart-mouthed Montgomery.
When all is said and done though, it does get by on some of the charm and likeability of the rest of the cast, although admittedly it does at times descend into cheesiness, which includes the recruits putting on an impromptu rap performance, which incorporates the story of Hamlet. There are still some heartfelt moments of drama and pathos. One of which involves a young Private who claims his father died a hero in Vietnam, much to the skepticism of his fellow classmates. It also taps into the very real reality of the troubling social realities that lead many young men and women to join the army.
For the shortcomings it does have, Renaissance Man is not by any means the worst movie that DeVito has been associated with, and while it may not necessarily be 100% a completely accurate depiction of the military, (there have been criticisms of how military protocol is portrayed) if one can suspend disbelief, and just go with it, Renaissance Man is well acted and pretty distracting fare with some genuinely affecting and heartwarming moments when it doesn't indulge itself in the maudlin.