Junior is a high-concept 90s comedy with an unexpectedly gentle streak: the premise is absurd, but the movie is more interested in parenthood, vulnerability, and gendered expectations than in cheap shock. It’s uneven and often dated, yet the cast and the sincerity of the script give it more warmth than its… Read more
8% ☆☆☆☆☆ (133,807)
Junior
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Comedy · Science Fiction · PG-13
1994 · 1h 50m · ★ 8% (133.8K)
Nothing is inconceivable.
Director: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Emma Thompson
Overview
A research scientist becomes the world's first pregnant man in order to test a drug he and a colleague have designed for expectant women. To carry out the trial, he has an embryo implant, believing that he will only carry the baby for three months – hardly expecting to face the prospect of giving birth.
Director
Ivan Reitman
Production
Northern Lights Entertainment, Universal Pictures
Cast
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Emma Thompson, Frank Langella, Pamela Reed, Aida Turturro, James Eckhouse, Megan Cavanagh, Welker White, Kathleen Chalfant, Merle Kennedy, Judy Collins, Mindy Seeger, Christopher Meloni, Antoinette Peragine, Cassandra Wilson, Ellen McLaughlin, Stefan Gierasch, Alexander Enberg, Judy Ovitz
Curator Review
Verdict
Junior is a high-concept 90s comedy with an unexpectedly gentle streak: the premise is absurd, but the movie is more interested in parenthood, vulnerability, and gendered expectations than in cheap shock. It’s uneven and often dated, yet the cast and the sincerity of the script give it more warmth than its reputation suggests.
Best for
fans of oddball studio comedies with a soft emotional center
viewers curious about Arnold Schwarzenegger in an unusually vulnerable role
people who enjoy 90s high-concept premises that play surprisingly earnest
audiences open to a mix of broad comedy and sentimental drama
Skip if
you want consistently sharp jokes or a tightly paced comedy
you’re likely to be put off by dated gender politics and body-pregnancy humor
you prefer sci-fi concepts with stronger worldbuilding or logic
you dislike movies that lean sentimental after starting as pure farce
Overview
Junior is one of those studio comedies that sounds like a dare and then, against the odds, tries to mean something. The setup is pure high-concept absurdity, but the film keeps circling back to anxiety, care, and what it means to carry responsibility in a body that is suddenly no longer fully your own.
Worth noting
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s casting is the joke and the point, but the movie is smarter than a simple stunt. He plays the role with a surprising amount of tenderness, and Emma Thompson gives the film a grounded emotional spine that keeps it from collapsing into pure novelty. Danny DeVito helps the comic machinery along, though the film’s real strength is its willingness to treat the premise seriously.
Bottom line
It’s still a very 1994 comedy, with some dated attitudes and a few stretches where the tone wobbles. But if you can accept the premise on its own terms, Junior becomes a weirdly sincere movie about parenthood, bodily autonomy, and the fear of becoming responsible for someone else’s future.
Top Letterboxd reviews
audreyv🏳️🌈 · 1556 likes
this man was governor of my state for my entire childhood
Evasive (4★) · 960 likes
I made 5 trans men watch this youtu.be/P7MzoBqeZWs
Sam B (3.5★) · 784 likes
arnie said my body my choice
Lydia Roberts (4★) · 718 likes
you are all just haters and stupid.
megan (1.5★) · 697 likes
fuck off arnold, i'm not going to your fucking baby shower
1996 · Comedy, Romance · 1h 59m · R · ★ 78% (359.1K) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Peacock Premium, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
A mainstream comedy that finds heart and humanity inside a premise built on performance and social expectation.