The whole film rests on the Vito Corleone parody perpetrated here by Marlon Brando, close enough to give Clark Kellogg (Matthew Broderick) fits, but just off kilter enough so that the viewer sees something just a bit different and refreshing in Brando's take on 'The Godfather'. In fact, there's a few times if you watch closely that it seems like Brando is throwing a little bit of Rod Steiger into the characterization. You just have to laugh every time he's on screen with that underlying threat of hostility that never really emerges, while the whole time you wonder when it's coming.
For his part, and as the story progresses, Broderick's character begins to take on the frustration of Michael Corleone in "The Godfather: Part III" - "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." I didn't know what to make of the Komodo dragon bit as Clark and Bushak (Frank Whaley) chase it through the mall, but it all ties in, even if rather ridiculously, to the gimmick of the endangered species dinner.
And then there's Bert Parks. Doing his Miss America bit with the Komodo was just the right touch of inspired to lunacy to get this thing over the top. You have to give the writers credit for the imaginatively disparate elements they brought to this story while still making it believable. Well, as believable as the movie allows. You know, I was waiting the whole picture for Brando to grab an orange at some point and ad lib his way through a scene but instead he used walnuts. Still, he brought us back to The Godfather one last time with that little hand flick to the chin near the end of the story, making this a picture you can't refuse.
For his part, and as the story progresses, Broderick's character begins to take on the frustration of Michael Corleone in "The Godfather: Part III" - "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." I didn't know what to make of the Komodo dragon bit as Clark and Bushak (Frank Whaley) chase it through the mall, but it all ties in, even if rather ridiculously, to the gimmick of the endangered species dinner.
And then there's Bert Parks. Doing his Miss America bit with the Komodo was just the right touch of inspired to lunacy to get this thing over the top. You have to give the writers credit for the imaginatively disparate elements they brought to this story while still making it believable. Well, as believable as the movie allows. You know, I was waiting the whole picture for Brando to grab an orange at some point and ad lib his way through a scene but instead he used walnuts. Still, he brought us back to The Godfather one last time with that little hand flick to the chin near the end of the story, making this a picture you can't refuse.