View source for Son in Law (film)

{{About|the 1993 film|other uses|Son-in-law (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Son in Law
| image          = Soninlawcover.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| alt            = Pictures of a duck, a pig, a cow, and a person. The person is labelled "The Weasel".
| producer       = [[Peter M. Lenkov]]<br />Michael Rotenberg
| screenplay     = Fax Bahr<br />Adam Small<br />Shawn Schepps
| story          = Patrick J. Clifton<br />Susan McMartin<br />[[Peter M. Lenkov]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|<!--Per poster billing-->
* [[Pauly Shore]]
* [[Lane Smith]]
* [[Carla Gugino]]
}}
| director       = [[Steve Rash]]
| studio         = [[Hollywood Pictures]]
| distributor    = [[Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures|Buena Vista Pictures Distribution]]
| runtime        = 95 minutes
| language       = English
| released       = {{Film date|1993|07|02|United States}}
| music          = [[Richard Gibbs]]
| cinematography = [[Peter Deming]]
| editing        = Dennis M. Hill<br />Jerry L. Roof
| budget         = $8 million
| gross          = $36.4 million (US/Canada)<ref name=mojo>{{cite web |url= https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=son-in-law.htm |title=Son-in-Law (1993) |publisher= IMDB | work = Box Office Mojo |accessdate=7 August 2011}}</ref>
}}
'''''Son in Law''''' is a 1993 American [[comedy film]] directed by [[Steve Rash]], written by Fax Bahr, Adam Small, and Shawn Schepps, and starring [[Pauly Shore]], [[Carla Gugino]], and [[Lane Smith]].
Although it became a box-office success, the film received mixed reviews from critics, but has since become a [[cult classic]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Persaud |first1=Christine |title=13 Cult Classics From the '90s That Aged Poorly |url=https://collider.com/cult-classics-90s-aged-poorly/ |access-date=5 October 2024 |work=Collider |date=2 August 2024}}</ref>
==Plot==
18-year-old Rebecca "Becca" Warner, the [[valedictorian]] of her high school in a farm town in [[South Dakota]], has been accepted to a college in [[Los Angeles]]. On her first day, she and her parents Walter and Connie meet Fred "Crawl" Weasel, [[Resident assistant|resident advisor]] of Becca's [[coed]] [[dormitory]]. After they leave, the clash of cultures causes Becca to consider returning home, but Crawl convinces her to give the college a chance. She soon begins to acclimate, cutting and dyeing her hair, dressing in a Californian style, and even getting a [[tattoo]] of a butterfly on her ankle. When Becca sees Crawl has nowhere to go when school breaks, she invites him to South Dakota to celebrate [[Thanksgiving]] with her family.
When Becca and Crawl arrive in South Dakota, the Warners and Becca's boyfriend Travis are shocked by the changes in Becca. At dinner, Becca realizes that Travis wants to [[marriage|propose marriage]] to her and she urges Crawl to speak. Unable to come up with anything off the cuff, Crawl tells them that he has already proposed and she had accepted. This upsets Becca's family, who begin to disdain Crawl, and Travis, who punches Crawl in the face.
Now acting as a future son-in-law, Crawl expresses an interest in farming but bumbles his way through daily chores, to the amusement of Walter and his [[Farmworker|farmhand]] Theo. However, Crawl begins to prove himself as an avid farmer, quickly learning how to perform each task he's given. He also begins to endear himself to the rest of the family. He impresses Becca's little brother Zack with his computer skills, and Zack begins to see him as a big brother. He compliments Connie's appearance and helps to bring her out of her shell for Walter. When Walter's father has a heart attack, Crawl performs [[CPR]] and earns Walter's trust for aiding his father.
While shopping for clothes, Crawl meets Becca's friend Tracy. Travis apologizes to Crawl for hitting him and invites him to a [[bachelor party]], where Tracy dances for Crawl.
The next morning, Becca finds Crawl and Tracy waking up in the barn and furiously calls off the wedding, but Crawl and Tracy cannot remember what happened. Crawl leaves to head back to L.A. while Travis, who had been seeing Tracy on the side, berates her for behavior the previous night. Tracy finds her car seat suspiciously left all the way back and discovers a bottle of pills underneath it.
After picking up Crawl, who was attempting to [[hitchhike]], Tracy visits the Warner house to confront Travis and Theo while the Warners are sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. Theo confesses that they drugged them and that he set them up in the barn. Walter immediately fires Theo, but declines to report him to the authorities for his honesty. Becca stands up to Travis and Crawl knocks him down, revealing that he had majored in [[karate]] for two semesters.
After Travis and Theo leave, Tracy is invited to sit with the Warners while Walter asks his son-in-law to cut the turkey. Becca tries to speak the truth about Crawl's proposal, but he stops her, saying that they have not yet decided on a wedding date and need wait a while before making the decision, hinting that he intends to legitimately propose to Rebecca and have a proper relationship that the Warners will respect.
==Cast==
* [[Pauly Shore]] as Fred "Crawl" Weasel
* [[Carla Gugino]] as Rebecca "Becca" Warner, Crawl's love interest later wife
* [[Lane Smith]] as Walter Warner Jr., Rebecca's father
* [[Cindy Pickett]] as Connie Warner, Rebecca's mother
* [[Mason Adams]] as Walter Warner Sr., Walter's father and Rebecca's paternal grandfather
* [[Patrick Renna]] as Zack Warner, Rebecca's younger brother
* [[Dennis Burkley]] as Theo, Walter's farmhand
* [[Dan Gauthier]] as Travis, Rebecca's boyfriend
* [[Tiffani Thiessen|Tiffani-Amber Thiessen]] as Tracy, Rebecca's best friend
* [[Adam Goldberg]] as Indian
* [[Flea (musician)|Flea]] as tattoo artist
[[Brendan Fraser]] reprises his role of Linkovich "Link" Chomovsky from ''[[Encino Man]]'' in a cameo appearance.
==Production==
After ''[[Encino Man]]'', Shore was considering a project with [[New Line Cinema]], but was heavily pressured by Disney chairman [[Jeffrey Katzenberg]] to stay with Disney and make ''Son in Law''.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-20-ca-1690-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Jeffrey | last=Wells | title= you look inside Hollywood and the movies. : TOTALLY TINSELTOWN: The War Over Pauly Shore's Next Movie or Why Hollywood Is Sooooo Much Fun | date=20 September 1992}}</ref>
==Promotions==
The [[Film poster|promotional poster]] for the film is a [[parody]] of the painting ''[[American Gothic]]''. The opening title sequence and [[graduation]] [[ceremony]] scene were filmed at Wasco High School in [[Wasco, California]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardisty |first=Dianne |title=Kern Life: WASCO: Pleasant valley city offers history, scenery |url=https://www.bakersfield.com/bakersfield-life/kern-life-wasco-pleasant-valley-city-offers-history-scenery/article_756ab24c-e480-11ec-bfbd-6f172b3f9d38.html |date=June 25, 2022 |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=The Bakersfield Californian |language=en}}</ref>
To promote the film, [[MTV]] ran a contest to marry [[Pauly Shore]] in [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]]. The contest attracted 25,000 entrants and was won by Tanya Cinotti of [[Salisbury, Massachusetts]], who also won four days in Vegas, food, time with Shore, a bumblebee ring and a yo-yo that lights up. Though, on July 2, 1993, there was a ceremony, no marriage certificates were signed.<ref name="Marrying Man">{{cite magazine|last=Meyers|first=Kate|title=Marrying Man|url= https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,307439,00.html |magazine=Entertainment Weekly|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421070826/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,307439,00.html |archive-date=21 April 2009 |accessdate=22 April 2011|date=30 July 1993}}</ref>
==Reception==
{{RT prose|32|4.1|22|While there may be some mild culture clash yucks to be had for those who enjoy Pauly Shore's shtick, this ''Son-In-Law'' is too obnoxious to be worthy of bringing home to your family.|ref=y}}
In the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', reviewer Michael Wilmington suggested that the film "... tries to pretend that it’s about tolerance: a kind of ''[[Guess Who's Coming to Dinner|Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner]]'' about anti-L.A. freak bigotry". He also criticized the film's premise: {{cquote|''Son-in-Law'' suggests that somebody like Crawl would be as weird as a lunar being to the Midwestern Warners. That isn't so. Because of TV and the movies, L.A. subcultures are the ones ''everyone'' knows about. ... In any town within reach of cable TV, the teen-agers would not only recognize a Pauly, there might be imitation Paulys at the high school.<ref>{{cite news | title = MOVIE REVIEW : A Silly Mix of Bad Ideas in 'Son-in-Law' | date = July 2, 1993 | first = Michael |last=Wilmington | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-07-02-ca-9231-story.html | work = Los Angeles Times}}</ref>}}
In the United States and Canada, the film grossed $36.4 million.<ref name=mojo/> By the end of 1993, it had grossed $4.6 million internationally.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|page=1|date=January 3, 1994|title=Int'l top 100 earn $8 bil|last=Klady|first=Leonard}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0108186}}
* {{AllMovie title|id=45632}}
{{Steve Rash}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Son In Law}}
[[Category:1993 films]]
[[Category:1993 romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:American romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Steve Rash]]
[[Category:Films scored by Richard Gibbs]]
[[Category:Films set on farms]]
[[Category:Films set in South Dakota]]
[[Category:Films set in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Films shot in California]]
[[Category:Hollywood Pictures films]]
[[Category:Thanksgiving comedy films]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy films]]