Linkshoch
Wonderful Movie
SnoReptilePlenty
Memorable, crazy movie
Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Sweetigal85
This movie is definitely reminiscent of the glorious 90s. The clothes, the hairstyles, the scenery, the attitudes...the complete and utter lack of iphones or cell phones at all haha. In fact, if cell phones had been mainstream at this point the movie would have ended rather quickly!This movie is obviously very far-fetched as most screwball comedies are. One of my favorite story lines though are ones that take place in a day's time like this and which start from something simple which escalates ridiculously. Aside from being very funny it is also heartfelt at times. It is interesting how this chaotic and seemingly dangerous experience strengthened the relationship between the main workaholic character and his emotionally neglected children. He was not a bad guy and he was obviously working so hard to keep them in the lap of luxury but it was clear that along the way he forgot what was important. This hectic day reforged the bond he once had with his children or perhaps never had at all. Some elements with the gun violence/comedy are difficult to watch now as the world has become a much more dangerous place since 1996. If you have never seen this movie before, try to keep that in mind that this is 1996. I do not think a family comedy made now would make light of using guns in a funny way. Perfect movie for people who grew up in the 90s, not sure if modern day people who have not seen it already would enjoy it as thoroughly. Check it out and see!
Python Hyena
Carpool (1996): Dir: Arthur Hiller / Cast: Tom Arnold, David Paymer, Kim Coates, Rhea Perlman, Rachael Leigh Cook: Dreadful piece of trash that suggests that not just the children are rowdy in the van but also the situation at hand. David Paymer must drive the kids to school when his wife is too ill but Tom Arnold takes them hostage in their van after a foiled robbery attempt. Apparently he needed money to get his circus up and going. Police catch on and what follows is The Cannonball Run with new rules. Director Arthur Hiller previously made such acclaim films as Love Story and Silver Streak but here he wipes out with cheap production values. Arnold constantly mugs every scene and Paymer is at the mercy of bad writing. Together they are trapped within a film that will likely scar their careers for life. Rhea Pearlman has the thankless role of meter maid who pursues them. Kim Coates overacts as a cop whose basic job is to wipe out or crash into solid objects. Rachael Leigh Cook plays the less than impressed daughter whom will obviously come around in the conclusion. Laugh-less comedy featuring humour that may be deemed inappropriate for its target audience but then again what parent desires to watch a child jams gummie bears up his nose and eat them? Easily one of the worst films of the year and deserves to be toss into an interstate until it is mashed into the nothing that it is. Score: 1 / 10
EdnaWelthorpe
I only saw this movie once years ago. I suppose the fact that I still remember it should be to the film's credit but every time I think about it, I just get filled with revulsion and rage over how incredibly stupid this movie is.Why do I hate it? Well let's start with the premise of Tom Arnold being a goofball who happens to take an entire carpool hostage...how could anyone think this premise would work? Especially with Tom Arnold as the lead?The rest is a series of unfunny chase scenes, including driving through the mall just like the Blues Brothers only that movie was funny and this one...oh and there's one scene where Tom Arnold has the dad hold his hand and give him a baseball related pep talk of some kind (I don't know how to describe it) so that he could urinate.Also scraping the bottom of the barrel in the movie is the treatment of Rachel Leigh Cook as she is subjected to repeated, unwanted advances from the boy who is her age. Pretty sure it qualified as harassment.But when this movie could not get any stupider, it ends with everyone going to the dad's presentation and somehow pitching their horrific kidnapping and ordeal into a commercial pitch.This movie is awful! Avoid it like the plague if you can.
Theo Robertson
CARPOOL was produced by Warner Bros , a film studio with a long history of movie making . You'd think the studio heads would know what makes a successful entertaining film so couldn't have come up with something better than this ? What's that old saying " Never work with children or animals " ? The studio broke one of the rules by employing children as main protagonists and while we don't have much in the way of animals we see another golden rule broken , the one that states " Never work with a duff script " . A man drives his children to school only to get kidnapped by a desperate robber . You probably think you've seen this premise a million times before but it's not really a plot that's been filmed all that many times , probably because it's so weak and obvious which leads me to be confused as to how it survived its pitch . I guess the studio must have been really short of good ideas that month . The already weak plot is brought done even more by the way the actors mug for the camera and the really weak situations: " You put the gun down - No you put the gun down " which means it's not really worth your time seeing