Kindergarten Cop

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox film Kindergarten Cop is a 1990 American action comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and distributed by Universal Pictures. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, a tough-as-nails Los Angeles police detective working undercover as a kindergarten teacher to locate the wife and child of drug dealer Cullen Crisp (Richard Tyson), who are living under assumed identities. Pamela Reed, Penelope Ann Miller, Linda Hunt, Carroll Baker and Cathy Moriarty co-star. The original music score was composed by Randy Edelman. The film marked the second collaboration for Reitman and Schwarzenegger, succeeding Twins (1988).

The film was released in North America on December 21, 1990, and grossed $202 million worldwide. Critical reception was mixed, though Schwarzenegger earned praise for his comedic abilities and willingness to subvert the action-hero image that had defined his career.

Plot

After years of pursuing infamous drug lord Cullen Crisp Sr., LAPD Police Detective John Kimble arrests Crisp for murder, as the call woman Cindy witnessed Crisp gun down an informant in the back of a shopping mall. The man had given him information regarding the whereabouts of his former wife Rachel. Crisp claims that she stole $3 million from him, before fleeing with their son Cullen Crisp Jr, and going into hiding.

Partnered with fellow detective Phoebe O'Hara, Kimble is sent to Astoria, Oregon, to identify Rachel and offer her immunity in exchange for testifying against Crisp in court. O'Hara is tasked with finding Rachel via her son by posing as a newly hired substitute teacher in kindergarten class at Astoria Elementary School. Both colleagues get to know each other — Kimble is divorced and has a 13-year-old son named Alex, with whom he has not had contact in years after his ex-wife remarried; and O'Hara is dating a chef — and become friends. However, she is incapacitated by severe gastroenteritis, so Kimble is forced to step in as the teacher.

School Principal Ingrid Schlowski initially suspects Kimble's ineptitude. Though overwhelmed at first, Kimble adapts to his new status quickly, despite lacking any formal teaching experience. Through the use of his pet ferret as a class mascot, positive reinforcement for good behavior, and his police training as a model for structure in class, Kimble becomes a much admired and cherished figure to the pupils. O'Hara recovers, then poses as Kimble's sister from Austria to assist him in the investigation.

Kimble begins to enjoy his undercover role. At one point, he deals with a case of child abuse by assaulting, threatening, and pressing charges against the abusive father of one of his pupils (Zach), winning over Schlowski. She assures him that despite Kimble's unorthodox methods, she is impressed with his performance and thus does not fire him.

Kimble also becomes fond of Joyce, a fellow teacher whose son Dominic is one of his pupils. Dominic admires Kimble and sees him as a father figure, as his mother is estranged from her husband and will not speak of him. Joyce tells her son that he lives in France and that she left him after seeing his true colors, refusing to elaborate.

Through their conversations, Kimble deduces that Joyce is actually Rachel and that Dominic is Cullen Jr. Meanwhile, in California, the case holding Crisp in jail is closed after Cindy dies from using tainted cocaine provided by Crisp's mother and partner-in-crime, Eleanor. With no witness and no other existing evidence, Crisp is subsequently released, and travels to Astoria with Eleanor to search for his son. When Kimble learns of this, he confronts Rachel about her identity, saying he can protect her if she cooperates. She is outraged that he misled her, but she reveals that Crisp lied about the stolen money in order to convince drug dealers to hunt them down and he came to kidnap her son Dominic.

Crisp arrives at the school and starts a fire in the library as a distraction to kidnap his son, then uses the boy as a hostage when Kimble arrives to capture him. Just as Crisp declares his intentions and prepares to shoot Kimble, the latter's ferret, which was hiding in Dominic's sweater, bites Crisp in the neck, allowing Dominic to escape. In pain, Crisp shoots Kimble in the leg, and in response, Kimble shoots Crisp three times in the chest, killing him instantly. Outside, Eleanor strikes O'Hara with her car and runs inside the school. She discovers her son's dead body, shoots Kimble in the shoulder and demands he tell her where her grandson is, but at the last second, O'Hara appears and knocks Eleanor unconscious with a baseball bat. Eleanor is then arrested by the police, and the unconscious Kimble is hospitalized (much to the sadness of the children) alongside O'Hara, both of them going on to make a full recovery.

O'Hara returns to the LAPD, while Kimble decides to resign and stay in Astoria, becoming a full-time kindergarten teacher at the school. Joyce joins him and they share a kiss as everyone cheers.

Production

File:Astoria-Megler.JPG

Much of the filming was done on location in Astoria, Oregon, the setting of the film.

File:John Jacob Astor Elementary, Astoria.JPG

The school interior and exterior were filmed at the John Jacob Astor Elementary School in Northeast Astoria

Casting

Bill Murray and Patrick Swayze were initially approached to play the role of Kimble.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Danny DeVito was also considered for the role, but Ivan Reitman nixed the idea as he felt DeVito's height would make him seem less believable as Kimble. Ultimately, DeVito's former costar from Twins, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was chosen for the part.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Director Reitman and casting director Michael Chinich auditioned more than 2,000 children for the roles of the pupils.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref> Elijah Wood was among those who unsuccessfully auditioned for a role.<ref>Template:Cite podcast</ref>

Filming

Exterior scenes at Astoria Elementary School were filmed at John Jacob Astor Elementary School, located at 3550 Franklin Avenue in Astoria, Oregon.<ref name=":0" />

Universal Studios hired local artists Judith Niland and Carl Lyle Jenkins to paint murals on the walls at Astoria, and provided new playground equipment, a fenced playground, and a new lawn and hedges around the school. Most of the filming was completed after school was out in June 1990,<ref name=stfsiaij>Template:Cite news</ref> allowing many of the pupils and faculty to be extras in the film.<ref name=opirkc>Template:Cite journal</ref> Pupils' artwork was also used.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> While on location, Schwarzenegger insisted a private studio for daily workouts and weightlifting be assembled for his use.<ref name=":0" />

Other locations used in or near Astoria include the Bayview Motel,<ref name=":1" /> Commercial Street in downtown Astoria,<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> and exteriors outside the Seafare Restaurant on Industry Street.<ref name=":2" /> The school picnic was filmed at Ecola State Park near Cannon Beach, Oregon, Template:Convert south of Astoria.<ref name=":2" /> Scenes at Joyce and Dominic's house were filmed at a private residence located at 414 Exchange Street<ref name=":2" /> and highway scenes were filmed on U.S. Route 26 east of Seaside, Oregon, Template:Convert from Astoria.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Interior school scenes were shot at Universal Studios in Hollywood.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film's opening scene was filmed at the Westfield MainPlace Mall in Santa Ana, California,<ref name=":2" /> and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Reception

Box office

Kindergarten Cop was the second-highest-grossing film, behind Home Alone, during the week of January 8, 1991.<ref name="LAT">Template:Cite news</ref> It grossed $91.4 million in North America and $101.5 million internationally.<ref name="NUM">Template:Cite web</ref> It was released in the United Kingdom on February 1, 1991, and topped the country's box office that weekend.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Kindergarten Cop has a rating of 54% based on 39 reviews and an average rating of 5.60/10. The site's consensus reads, "Arnold Schwarzenegger substitutes his action brio with some refreshingly adept comedic timing, but Kindergarten Cop is too grim for children and too cloying for adults."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On Metacritic, it has a score of 61 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.<ref name="CinemaScore">Template:Cite web</ref> Reviewer Caryn James of The New York Times said, "Like Twins, which was also directed by Ivan Reitman, nothing in the film is as funny as the idea of it."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In Kim Newman's review for Empire, he wrote, "With a heart of purest mush, the film still manages to be generally entertaining" and gave it 3 stars out of 5.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An Entertainment Weekly review at the time of release notes that: "the movie never quite gels and it is not going to generate quite the mega hit business their producers are counting on", giving it a "C" grade.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Roger Ebert said the film "is made up of two parts that shouldn't fit, but somehow they do, making a slick entertainment out of the improbable, the impossible and Arnold Schwarzenegger" and awarded it three stars.<ref> Template:Cite news</ref>

On April Fools' Day 2012, as a prank, the film was announced to be selected for a release on DVD and Blu-ray Disc as part of The Criterion Collection, a video distribution company dedicated to the release of "important classic and contemporary films". It was said to be selected as important, in part because of its genre revisionist use of both the policier and family comedy genres in the same film.<ref name="Kindergarten Cop in the Criterion Collection"> Template:Cite web</ref> It was released on Blu-ray, though not by Criterion, on July 1, 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kino Lorber released the film on 4K UHD on January 23, 2024.<ref>Kindergarten Cop 4K Blu-ray. Blu-Ray.com. Retrieved 21 March 2025.</ref>

Legacy

For the video game Silent Hill, parts of Astoria Elementary School from the film were used as reference for the location Midwich Elementary School.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Several of Schwarzenegger's memorable lines from the film were used in sound boards for prank phone calls that became popular in the early 2000s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During an April 2021 interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Schwarzenegger stated that the idea behind the making of Superhero Kindergarten came from his desire "to do a sequel to Kindergarten Cop".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A 1996 Filipino action comedy movie Ang Titser Kong Pogi (lit. "My Handsome Teacher") is a remake of Kindergarten Cop, starring Bong Revilla in a title role.

Sequel

Template:Main A standalone sequel starring Dolph Lundgren, Kindergarten Cop 2, was released direct to DVD in May 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Arnold Schwarzenegger filmography
• List of American films of 1990
• Olympian Anthony Adam, an Indian Malayalam film with a similar plot

External links

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