Verdict
Summary
I love the early ’90s aesthetics on display here with all the neon colors, bad music, silicone boobs everywhere, and a sloppy leftovers feeling that was apparent when the ’80s faded away into the weird void that was the ’90s, but there’s not much about Meatballs 4 that resonates in any way as a teen sex comedy or as a film that has any real relevance today.
Plot:
A summer camp for water skiers struggles to stay open and hires a hotshot instructor to revitalize the place.
Review:
The Lakeside Water Ski Camp is on its last legs, no thanks to a nearby resort that has swallowed up the clientele every summer, and so this year, the old timer who runs the place – Neil (Jack Nance always on the verge of twitching) – takes drastic measures: He hires his granddaughter’s ex-boyfriend, a ski champ sponsored by Body Glove, to become the ski instructor for the summer, with the hopes that his popularity will help revitalize the camp and attract more campers. The hotshot in question is Ricky Wade (Corey Feldman, whose character is monumentally unlikable), and because he recently worked for Neil’s competitor (played by Sarah Douglas from the Superman movies) who runs the resort nearby, she has a bone to pick with him and tries to sneak in and buy Lakeside using smarmy business tactics so that she can expand her resort. With a big competition coming up at the end of the summer where the two camps compete at water skiing, Neil is desperate to win, but his team of fledgling campers (who include a fatso who can’t score a chick to save his life) struggle under flashy Wade’s cocky leadership, but with everything on the line, the “meatballs” at Lakeside have to take this whole thing seriously … or Neil is going to lose his livelihood.
A far cry from the innocent original Meatballs that actually had a heart, this fourth (and so far final) entry in the franchise was originally conceived as a standalone film called Happy Campers, but as a “Meatballs” movie it has been shoehorned into the franchise, but unnecessarily so. The “kids” featured in the movie all seem to be in their early to mid-twenties, and all of the gals look like they were culled straight from a Playboy Wet and Wild video tape, which was likely the big selling point in the early ’90s, aside from having star Feldman (who in one moment references himself as having starred in The Goonies) front and center. This was Feldman’s moment to shine, and watching this now seems to have a backwards nostalgia effect that is both charming and bewildering. I love the early ’90s aesthetics on display here with all the neon colors, bad music, silicone boobs everywhere, and a sloppy leftovers feeling that was apparent when the ’80s faded away into the weird void that was the ’90s, but there’s not much about Meatballs 4 that resonates in any way as a teen sex comedy or as a film that has any real relevance today. From writer / director Bob Logan.
MVD Rewind Collection presents Meatballs 4 on Blu-ray for the first time, and the presentation is more than adequate in high definition widescreen, and they’ve added an hour-long video interview with Logan, who discusses his career. There’s also the trailer on the disc, plus a foldout poster.
