The Freshman Review

Most people don't have the time, money, or energy to watch a lot of movies, so when you do get a chance to watch something, you want it to be good. That's why Rotten Tomatoes exists: to give a snapshot of whether a movie is worth your time. But does it always work? I'll be watching all of Rotten Tomatoes’ Certified Fresh movies from this Wikipedia list starting in the year 1990, the decade I was born, and we'll see if these movies are really worth the hype.

Movie 13 of 1990:

The Freshman, directed by Andrew Bergman, is a comedy that is not entirely sure what it wants to be. When film student Clark Kellogg (Matthew Broderick) arrives in New York City, he is quickly taken under the wing of Carmine Sabatini (Marlon Brando). Chaos ensues when Clark is tasked with transporting a Komodo dragon over state lines for his boss, who very well may be a mobster.

This movie committed one of the greatest cardinal sins for me because I found it boring. not bad, not incompetent, just boring. I went into this expecting a comedy, but the humorous situations seemed to be glossed over in favor of this Komodo dragon plot. I didn't find the crime elements compelling at all, and would have honestly preferred to see more of Clark juggling this relationship with Carmine and his film studies.

The obvious joke here is that Carmine looks exactly like the Godfather,  which sure makes him seem like he is in the mob in addition to the other stereotypes at play. What I thought was funniest about this premise was Clark being thrown into this environment that seems to be very dangerous and mobster-forward, but it's actually just a legitimate business. The film did not fully run with this, however, as when the main plot reveals itself, it doesn't have much to do with that at all.

The director was actually inspired to make the film after reading a story about a mobster who got in trouble for illegal reptile trade. I never would have guessed that because I assumed the film student working for The Godfather was the main premise. After watching the movie, though, this is very apparent. I think this was the wrong thing to focus on because it was the most boring part of the story. It turned this movie from a comedy into some sort of crime/heist movie.

Based on the poster, which is great by the way, I thought the comedy would be more focused on Clark and Carmine's dynamic. If this film had leaned more into that, it would have been more fun and more memorable. A pretty good premise was wasted on something that turned out pretty boring.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

Is it worth the hype?:

Unfortunately, no. A pretty funny idea felt wasted here. I wish there had been more focus on Clark interacting with the “mobsters.” Despite some pretty capable performances, I just found myself bored. I would skip this unless you're really into Komodo dragon heists.