Meatballs III: Summer Job

Meatballs III: Summer Job(1986)

R
10/27/1986 (US)Comedy1h 36m
4.1

"Rudy struck out two summers in a row... this will be his year to score!"

Overview

The ghost of a dead porn star comes to Earth to help a nerd with his sex life.

George Mendeluk

Director

Harold Ramis

Characters

Len Blum

Characters

Bradley Kesden

Writer

George Mendeluk

Writer

Daniel Goldberg

Characters

Janis Allen

Characters

Michael Paseornek

Writer

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Part of the Meatballs Collection

Meatballs is a 1979 Canadian comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman. It is noted for Bill Murray's first film appearance in a starring role and for launching the directing career of Reitman. It was followed by several sequels, of which only Meatballs III: Summer Job (1986) had any connection to the original.

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Meatballs III: Summer Job (1986) Trailer

Meatballs III: Summer Job (1986) Trailer

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A review by Wuchak
5.0

Written on March 30, 2023

**_Fun “Meatballs” sequel, but without the innocence_**

Rudy Gerner (Patrick Dempsey) gets a summer job in upstate New York at a river “resort” on the St. Lawrence River wherein a strange woman (Sally Kellerman) helps him with his pursuits of the fairer sex.

"Meatballs III: Summer Job" was shot in the summer of 1984, but not released until early 1987 due to the difficulty of apprehending a distributer after the box office failure of “Meatballs Part II” (1984). Of the three sequels this is the only one with connections to the original 1979 film in that Rudy, the mentee of Tripper (Bill Murray), is 2-3 years older and focused on girls. Tripper doesn’t appear in this one, but Rudy reads a letter from him.

The flick is a mixture of the original “Meatballs” with the goofiness and biker gang of the beach party films of the ’60s, plus the raunchiness of “Porky’s” (1981). It’s that last part that ruins the movie for me, although it’s thankfully not AS crude. In short, this is “Meatballs” minus the innocence. Another negative is the eye-rolling competition involving bedding the marina owner’s woman upstairs (Shannon Tweed).

Nevertheless, Dempsey makes for a quality protagonist and the subplot of the porn star (Kellerman) having to come back from the other side to do a genuine good deed is amusing, reminiscent of the quirkiness of a Woody Allen flick. Moreover, the coming-of-age element is compelling.

There are several nubile females with winsome Isabelle Mejias playing the girl interested in Rudy, Wendy. For a superior movie featuring Isabelle, check out the similar “State Park” (1988).

The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Hudson, Quebec, with some stuff done west of there in Ontario.

GRADE: C