Captain Ron Parent Guide
Parent Movie Review
Captain Ron is a “summer fun” movie about a Chicago family that inherits some lost relative’s yacht. The catch is (there’s always a catch) that they have to go to some unknown island to claim it, and then sail it back to Miami. Through the services of their yacht broker, they are assigned a captain that doesn’t even have one oar in the water. The misfit crew slowly chart their way through the Caribbean and the script.
The good part about this summer movie is that there is not a main beach location, so there are only two girls to stare at: The mom played by Mary Kay Place and her sixteen year old daughter. And I must admit, director Eberhardt could have played the sex for much more than he did, but there still remains the usual casual attitude that seems to be a necessity to this type of film.
There is a short nude scene in a shower with Place and Short (sounds like a horse race), but it is kept to the confines of the PG-13 code: Brief topless nudity in a generally non-sensual context. Another scene has their daughter admitting to a tatoo in a “very private place.” Later, it is discovered that Captain Ron was the artist.
With one extreme sexual expletive (one is the limit for PG-13), and a general attitude of disrespect for parents, the film does save a little grace by having Dad become the good guy who saves the day, but only because Captain Ron let him.
This is the usual film of the suburban family that gets fed up and decides to run away. At least they all go together, and in the end stay together. But what about the time away from school that was mentioned at the beginning? As they all sail off into the sunset, you are left feeling like this film really isn’t funny, and if your kids had the attitudes of the ones in this movie, you wouldn’t be laughing either.
Starring Kurt Russel, Martin Short, Mary Kay Place. Running time: 90 minutes. Theatrical release September 18, 1992. Updated March 12, 2013