Dennis the Menace (1993)
After Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), John Hughes’ unparalleled decade-long success, which began in 1983 with National Lampoon’s Vacation in 1983, came to an end. His subsequent films failed to capture the magic of his earlier work and this movie, based on the long-running comic strip, is no exception.
Nick Castle is an interesting and eclectic performer. He directed this and The Last Starfighter (1987), wrote Escape from New York (1981) and Hook (1991), and starred as Michael Myers in the first Halloween (1978).
Walter Matthau is Mr. Wilson, in yet another iteration of the cantankerous old man he’s become most famous for playing. Beginning with The Odd Couple (1968), and continuing with The Sunshine Boys (1975), The Bad News Bears (1976), and Grumpy Old Men (1993), no other actor is as closely associated with crotchety.
Christopher Lloyd is Switchblade Sam, a homeless drifter turned petty thief, who functions as a poor imitation of the Wet Bandits from the Hughes earlier Home Alone movies. Lloyd is a great comedic actor who will forever be remembered as Doc Brown, but he’s had several other iconic roles including Klingon Commander Kruge, Professor Plum, and Dr. Doom. Nobody plays lovably, crazy better.
Lloyd’s Back to the Future costar, Leah Thompson is Dennis’s mom Alice. Unfortunately, she isn’t given anything to do other than serve as background noise.
Joan Plowright is Mrs. Wilson. Incredibly, the wife of legendary Shakespearean actor Sir Laurence Olivier starred in a movie based on a comic strip five years after his death.
The fantastic character actor Paul Winfield has a small role as the chief of police.
This movie had a great pedigree: beloved source material, legendary writer, great cast, interesting director, but somehow it turned to crap. It borrowed too heavily from Home Alone and unfortunately its titular star, Mason Gamble, didn’t have the natural charisma of Macaulay Culkin. It’s worth watching once, if you don’t have anything better to do.