Captain Ron Movie Review

Captain Ron (1992)

Rent Captain Ron on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: John Dwyer (story), John Dwyer and Thom Eberhardt (screenplay)
Directed by: Thom Eberhardt
Starring: Kurt Russell, Martin Short, Mary Kay Place
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
A stressed-out executive and his family embark on a cruise with the dubious Captain Ron, a carefree sailor with a sketchy history and questionable nautical skills.

Verdict
It's over the top and silly with a throwaway story that substitutes ridiculousness for development. The family bonds and learns lessons along the way, influenced by the strange Captain Ron. They even help guerillas and fight pirates. Kurt Russell playing against type makes this fun, but not good. He's the only reason to watch this, and even then I'm not sure that's advisable.
Skip it.

Review
Office drone Martin (Martin Short) inherits a boat from his recently deceased uncle. He wants to sell it to pay off debt, but the catch is he has to sail it away from the island where it's located and back to the states. They'll need to hire a Caribbean boat captain to help them sail it back.

Martin, his wife, and two kids travel down to the boat to discover it's not quite what they expected. It's been sorely neglected. Captain Ron (Kurt Russell) shows up in comical fashion. He may be on the run and his car rolls off the dock into the ocean. I like Russell playing against type in a comical role. The family doesn't quite trust him, understandably. When they find him below deck, they initially confuse him as dead, but he's just asleep. The glass eye threw them off. I wondered if Ron even is a boat captain. He has more than a few bold claims, but he seems to be flying by the seat of his pants.

Kurt Russell plays Captain Ron

The comedy derives from a relatively normal family in a ridiculous situation, relying on Captain Ron who can't even navigate them to the right location. Ron seems more interested in drinking than sailing. He ends up playing Monopoly for money with Martin's son, even giving him a beer.

Martin and his wife get stuck in the shower, and it's Ron that has to save them. Martin soon becomes jealous, afraid his wife might be interested in the carefree Ron. He's everything Martin isn't, possessing an unparalleled confidence. Despite their differences, Ron is quick to defer to the Martin, the "boss."

They end up giving a ride to guerillas, because that's the type of movie this is. Ron had traded a ride for guns, but Martin throws them overboard. He's unwilling to have guns on his boat. They end up in Puerto Rico where Martin is arrested for aiding the guerillas, but he gets out of prison. He fires Ron, but that's largely due to jealousy. Martin is confident he can sail the boat himself with what he's learned, and that's when pirates take the boat.

Martin Short, Mary Kay Place play Martin, Katherine Harvey

Somehow Martin, family, and Ron end up in Cuba. Ron helps Martin despite being fired, and they steal the boat back which turns into a battle at sea with the pirates. Ron fakes an injury to allow Martin a chance to play the hero for his family while the family uses what Ron taught them to sail the boat.

It's a happy ending that's quite the adventure. It feels like a typical '90s comedy with an overworked family facing some kind of culture clash, accentuated with slapstick comedy antics. It's one of those movies that's fun to see Russell playing against type, but that's the only thing interesting about this movie.