Tim Burton Club continues with his directorial debut. Yes, children, before there was Beetlejuice, even before there was Batman, there was Pee-Wee Herman.When his beloved bicycle is stolen, Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) embarks on a cross-country adventure to find it.
I remember watching Pee-Wee's Playhouse as a kid but it never interested me enough to seek out anything else about it, so I was surprised to learn that it's actually a kid-friendly version of an HBO special of Reubens' stand-up. This character was a beloved figure in thousands of childhoods and the movie has an outsized impact on pop culture.
I have to say, though, I didn't think it lived up to the hype. Maybe because I watched it after my second panic attack of the day on Saturday, maybe because I was under-the-gun (self-imposed) to finish it before Movie Club, but I found the pacing to be interminable. It's essentially one vignette after another, toppling like a row of dominos to a meta ouroboros ending. I'm not going to say it's bad, because like I said, a lot of people really love this movie, but I didn't enjoy it. The jokes didn't land for me and I had zero emotional connection.
There are a number of cameos (including a very rare non-Elvira Cassandra Petersen performance) and it is Burton's feature-length debut, so if you're interested, you should check it out. You will probably have to shell out some digital cash for it, however, as it is only available for rent or purchase.
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