3259. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Estelle Getty, JoBeth Williams

Director: Roger Spottiswoode

Running Time: 87 mins

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot is an American film about a police detective whose mother comes to visit, soon inserting herself into his investigations and his love life.

Sylvester Stallone called Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot the worst film he ever starred in. With cheesy humour, a generic story and far from the most convincing mother-son chemistry between Estelle Getty and Stallone, it’s easy to see why he’s not immensely proud of this one.

However, for some reason, I rather liked this movie. I know in my heart of hearts that it’s not that good, but there’s something entertainingly preposterous about it all. And that’s not in a ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ kind of way, but because of the film’s seemingly unrelenting ability to insert mother-son buddy comedy into the middle of a cop movie.

The fact of the matter is that I laughed a lot more in this movie than in many other ‘comedies’. I’ll admit that the story is pretty woeful, and that Estelle Getty’s overbearing mother character can really get on your nerves in the opening stages, but I still found a lot to enjoy regardless.

There’s a fine line between Getty’s character being purely irritating or genuinely likable, and it’s something that this movie manages to nail down rather well in the latter stages.

Stallone is thoroughly entertaining from the start – his comic abilities are often hugely underrated – and once Getty mellows a little from the second act onwards, the film turns into a rather entertaining, albeit odd buddy comedy.

Some of the gags are terrible, but then some are genuinely hilarious. Among everything, Sylvester Stallone having a nightmare about his mother trying to change his diapers during a police raid is the highlight, but there’s a good few jokes that really made me chuckle here.

And in short, that’s why I rather liked Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. I can see that it’s not a masterpiece of filmmaking, but there’s something wonderfully pleasant about its preposterous premise and commitment to cheesy gags.

After all, it’s not meant to be taken too seriously, and the movie really manages to get into a nice groove in its latter stages, proving a thoroughly enjoyable, turn-your-brain-off comedy. So, that’s why I’m giving Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot a 7.0 overall.