Porky’s 2: The Next Day
The incredibly smart decision to allow Bob Clark to return to direct the sequel to his raunch classic is probably the best thing about this movie. The pace and the flow are nearly as good as the original, and the reference to Clark’s own Christmas Story (involving the “major award”) is a nice touch for comedy fans. What the film lacks for the most part though, are the huge laugh-out-loud scenes that made the first one famous. Nothing here comes close to the hilarity of the 1st film’s locker room peephole scene, and that’s a shame. However, it’s almost compensated by a better sense of character development, especially with Kaki Hunter’s Wendy. Basically just a big tease in the original, she now comes across as the one female who can hang with the guys, and her scene where she tells Pee-Wee why she likes him is the most sincerely written scene in the series. As for the rest of the cast, Monahan tones down his overacting a LOT as Pee-Wee, and is basically pretty boring due to his lack of charisma. The rest of the returning ensemble is as bland and boring as usual, though the script tries harder this time to make the characters more distinctive. Nancy Parson’s Balbricker returns as one of the chief antagonists, but she’s paired up here with a horribly overblown and overacted preacher character for whom it is hard for the viewer to take seriously. Sadly, there are none of the clever smaller roles here for the b-name actors like in the first, so viewers who like to recognize small parts may be disapppinted. At least here the motive for the gang’s revenge is understandable as the preacher takes on the role of censor trying to shut down their Shakespeare production for being “indecent”. Then there’s the issue of throwing in the Klu Klux Klan as all-purpose bad guys in a comedy. There’s very little, if anything, clever about the approach and gives much of the proceedings an overt air of political correctness. In the end, not a bad movie, but don’t expect to laugh as much as with the original…
7/10