Originally published March 22, 2016 on FrontRowCentral.com
Netflix has made a name for itself lately by cornering the market on nostalgic revivals.
From Arrested Development to Full House to Gilmore Girls, is there anything Netflix can’t bring back? Add to that list Pee-wee Herman, whose latest feature, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, finally lands on Netflix this week. It’s been 28 years since his last movie, Big Top Pee-wee, so how does his newest effort stack up? While somewhat rough around the edges thanks to a Netflix-sized budget, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday is still every bit as silly and hilarious as one could expect, and even manages to tug at the heartstrings in some genuine and unexpected ways.
The film opens in Fairville, a small town that never made it out of the 1950s. It’s here we meet Pee-wee Herman, that eternal man-child who represents everything pure and silly inside each of us. Pee-wee works as a line cook at Dan’s Diner, but while he seems perfectly content in his life, everyone around him is beginning to move on, something Pee-wee doesn’t know how to do. Down in the dumps, Pee-wee is left to run the diner one day when a stranger rides into town looking for a milkshake. That stranger is none other than Joe Manganiello, effortlessly played by and introducing himself as Magic Mike’s Joe Manganiello. Milkshakes happen to be Pee-wee’s specialty, and the two quickly bond over milkshakes, candy root beer barrels, and a love for miniature models. They become improbably (and adorably) fast friends, and before leaving town, Joe invites Pee-wee to his birthday party in New York City. Pee-wee has never left Fairville before, but Joe convinces him to live a little and road trip it across America to attend his party.
You’d be forgiven for thinking this sounds like a tired retread of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. While the two share an episodic road trip structure, though, they could not be more different. (Aside from being Pee-wee Herman movies, of course.) In his first feature, Pee-wee was on the single-minded quest of recovering his stolen bicycle. This time around, Pee-wee is on a journey of personal discovery, confronting his irrational fear of snakes, learning to let go of personal hangups, and accepting that life is all about living with change and appreciating new experiences.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is the first time we ever get a glimpse into Pee-wee Herman’s internal life. We’ve seen his house and his Rube Goldberg-inspired morning contraptions before, but none of that tells us anything about Pee-wee other than his love of Mr. T cereal and toy dinosaurs. Pee-wee’s Big Holiday finds Pee-wee more alone and vulnerable than we’ve ever seen him before, and there are moments here where he drops his gleeful facade and expresses some genuine emotions. Pee-wee is sincerely distressed that his friends are growing up and building lives without him. (The film never goes this direction, but I can’t help but think of Pee-wee’s eternal boyhood as some kind of curse.) It’s disarming to see Pee-wee Herman cry, and while Paul Reubens is now in his 60s, it’s easy to forget that Pee-wee is still in many ways a child.
The fact that Reubens can even still play the character is a miracle all on its own.
Of course, this is a comedy first, so don’t think you’re in for a Pee-wee Herman weepfest. His first experience outside of Fairville finds him getting carjacked by bank robbers Pepper (Jessica Pohly), Freckles (Stephanie Beatriz) and Bella (Alia Shawkat) while he marvels at his very first stoplight. These ladies aren’t around for long, but they all seem weirdly thrilled simply being in Pee-wee’s presence. It’s delightful. Elsewhere, Pee-wee encounters an eccentric aviator played by Big Adventure’s Diane Salinger, a farmer whose nine daughters are all too eager to marry Pee-wee, and an Amish community where Pee-wee teaches the folks a thing or two about fun. (When asked his idea of fun, Pee-wee pulls out a balloon, blows it up and plays with it for two uninterrupted minutes.)
Pee-wee’s Big Holiday is peppered with odd flourishes to break up the episodic “new place, new weirdo” structure. The strangest and most hilarious are recurring dream sequences in which Pee-wee dreams about making it to Joe Manganiello’s party. Shot in slow-motion and inexplicably in Spanish, these sequences find Pee-wee and Joe dancing about, lighting fireworks, opening presents, and just generally being goofballs. It’s silly digressions like this that make Pee-wee Herman such a treat; a feature-length narrative is nice, but brief moments where he gets otherwise serious actors to cut loose is where the real magic happens.
A big part of the Pee-wee Herman appeal is his wacky, left-field sense of humor, and this film has that in spades. Co-written by Reubens and Paul Rust, and directed by Wonder Showzen creator John Lee, this is a welcome return for the character and, with any luck, should warrant another adventure sooner rather than later. This was never going to match the heights of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure or even the sheer lunacy of Pee-wee’s Playhouse, but it warms the cockles of my heart that Pee-wee’s Big Holiday even exists in the first place. The fact that it’s funny as hell is icing on the cake.
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