Clifford

Plot synopsis:
At a Catholic school in 2050, a troublesome boy named Roger (Ben Savage) is running away after blowing up the gym due to not being allowed to play on the basketball team—he was accepted onto the team but his parents have forbidden contact sports. He is stopped by Father Clifford Daniels (Martin Short), an old priest, who tries to persuade him to change his ways by telling him a story of his own youth.
In a flashback, 11-year-old Clifford is a deceptive, sneaky, devious, obnoxious, evil, weird-looking boy who never lets go of a toy dinosaur named Steffen. He talks to and blames him for his own actions. He loves dinosaurs and his dream is to visit Dinosaur World, a theme park in California.
While flying with his parents to Honolulu, Clifford purposely causes a catastrophe on board that puts everyone on the plane in danger and forces the pilot to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles. His father, Julian, scolds him because he is not allowed to get back on the plane, though he has an important engagement to attend. He phones his brother, Martin (Charles Grodin)—who resides in Los Angeles—to propose the idea of Clifford staying with him temporarily. Martin thinks that this is the perfect opportunity to prove to his fiancee, Sarah Davis (Mary Steenburgen), how well he interacts with children. He has not seen Clifford since his baptism.
Upon their reunion, Martin reveals to Clifford that he designed Larry the Scary Rex (a Dinosaur World attraction) and can get into the park free of charge, which strengthens Clifford's obsession to visit. Martin promises to take him there, but is ultimately forced to break it because of work.
Clifford becomes enraged and sabotages Martin's life, jeopardizing his career and his relationship with Sarah. He compliments Martin's boss, Mr. Ellis (Dabney Coleman), on his toupee and humiliates Martin at Sarah's parents' 35th wedding anniversary party by replacing his Bloody Mary with Tabasco sauce, ruining an unprepared toast that Martin is giving. Clifford gets Martin arrested in front of Sarah's family after calling in a bomb threat and gets Martin fired by bombing a presentation during a press conference.
Martin's sanity snaps. He finally takes Clifford to Dinosaur World after hours and makes him ride Larry the Scary Rex until he can no longer take it. After going through it once, Clifford seems to enjoy himself, so Martin increases the ride's speed repeatedly. It malfunctions and Clifford's cart crashes, leaving him dangling above the jaws of a robotic dinosaur. He cries out for Martin to save him. Martin hesitates—worried about the future of mankind if he saves Clifford and fact that Clifford has so completely ruined his life—but ultimately risks his own life. Clifford finally apologizes for his behavior, but Martin is fed up. He tells Clifford that he is a selfish and destructive thing, not a human and that if he continues to be the way he is people will just end up hating him. Clifford, who was upset, decides not to go home with Martin.
Back in the future, Father Clifford says that this experience made him turn his life around. He wrote hundreds of letters asking Martin's forgiveness. Eventually, Martin invited him to his and Sarah's wedding, finally forgiving him.
Roger decides to not run away and to write hundreds of letters, asking for forgiveness. Father Clifford then takes Steffen saying, "Mission accomplished, old friend."

Tags: revenge, flashback

Review:
In this funny, but slightly crude film, Martin Short uses his young face and tricky camera angles, I think, to play the part of a ten year old boy.
The only way a goofy plot like the one in this film could possibly work is if the lead actor was a true genius of comedy, a man among Canadians, a charming elf-like creature I like to call Martin Shortman.
Martin Short relies heavily on facial movement and voice tonal changes to make his character Clifford funny.
Through the annoyance of his dear Uncle Martin surely we all can get along and laugh together as a family of opinionated movie viewers just looking for a good time, a few chuckles now and then to make us forget that we have low paying jobs and live in shoddily built ranch-style homes overlooking well built but poorly placed sewage treatment plants.
Bottom line is that if you really like Martin Short then you will think this movie is hilarious, if you don't then don't waste your time because you can't have it back..
On one hand we have films like "Clifford," the 1994 box office disaster starring Charles Grodin and Martin Short, that everyone claimed was one of the worst films of all time.
It's just with all the crap I've seen in my days, "Clifford" is not only a pretty good movie when compared to others, but also a refreshingly naughty comedy.
In LA, Clifford's parents drop him off with his Uncle Martin (Charles Grodin), an aspiring architect, busy with his fiancee (Mary Steenburgen) and plans for a new Los Angeles subway route.
Everyone knows someone like Clifford, but Martin Short stretches his character a bit more.
He responds with gleeful joy and says things like, "Oh, yes, my dear Uncle Martin!" We are supposed to sympathize with Clifford by the end of the film, but the problem is that we don't know how or what to sympathize with.
This is a movie about a 10 year old boy, Clifford, who is very mischievous and raises hell everywhere he goes.
Sick of his mischiefs, his parents leave him with his Uncle who is a middle-aged man and is trying to convince her fiancée that he likes kids and that's the reason why he agrees to keep Clifford with him.
As the movie goes on, Clifford completely destroys his Uncle's life with his pranks because he didn't take him to the local Dinosaur Park.
Martin Short was staggeringly hateful in this movie, and even though I suppose that was the whole point, it really is hard to be entertained when the main character is SO irritating.
Personally, I would have loved to see his character get decapitated at the end, for it would have turned the film into a feel-good movie.
Clifford is generally considered to have fallen into that category.Martin Short portrays a 90 year old priest, and a 10 year old holy terror of a child who will do anything he can (and what he can do is formidable) to get to Dinosaur World to fulfill his dream.I found this work amusing.
Lots of funny scenes about a very self-centered boy who drives adults crazy.I am sure a lot of adults can see some familiar behavior in their kids and themselves.Some the funny things they show Clifford doing remind me of myself when I was a boy; eating lots of sugar, watching videos of naked African women; drooling over the chance to go to a theme park, trying to fool adults and not getting away with it.Martin Daniels is especially funny as a middle-aged bachelor who is trying to convince his fiancé who wants children, that he appreciates children, so he has Clifford at his place to prove that point to his finance, in the meantime, Clifford ruins Martin's career, his house, and causes the breakup of the marriage engagement.Clifford is truly an evil menace, the bane of every adult, much worse than Dennis the Menace..
Martin Short stars as the title character who is apparently a ten year old boy.
Hopefully bonding with the young man will show his lady that he is in fact a good catch.The first time you look at Martin Short, and accept the premise that he is in fact a little boy, you begin to expect to laugh.
People believe me: It is NOT funny and - even more obvious - Martin Short is NOT a 10-year-old boy!
In the beginning Martin Short/Clifford is a priest some time in the 21st century and tells his story to a nasty boy.
Major annoying over-actors, always yelling everything they say in such a strained, exaggerated, draining way, especially Clifford's dad Richard Kind, Clifford's uncle Charles Grodin, and other characters in the movie.
Then there's a big problem with Clifford himself (played by Martin Short).
And then there's the way Clifford talks, with the looks on his face, it made me cringe (and that's bad enough without him saying things like "my no-no place" and many other embarrassing things) Then, if that's not all enough, there are some awful jokes thrown in, such as a couple of transvestites showing up right after a character says "I can spot a phony a mile away".
Not "Clifford".This comedy was anything but funny, in fact the longer the film went on, the more angry and frustrated I got.
Martin Short was completely unfunny (perhaps not as much his fault as the writer's) and Charles Grodin was insufferable with acting that was less animated than an Al Gore speech.If there is a God, and I'd like to think there is, I can only ask that everyone who was involved with this film in any way - actors, producers, writers, distributors, key grips, best boys, even the popcorn salesmen employed by the theater at the time the movie was playing - should burn in the pits of Gehenna for all eternity --- and made to watch "Clifford" again, and again, and again, and again......
I think that Clifford is the most excellent funny movie ever I've been watching it since it came out in 1994 and I watch it almost everyday and i crack up every time I watch it.I think it is an absolute riot that a man plays a 10 year old boy let alone martin short.I think this is martin shorts beat movie yet he was perfect for the part so was Charles Groton when ever I see him or the lady who played Sara I say hey look there's uncle martin and ms.
Short's comedic talents go to great waste in this awful comedy about a troublesome boy (Short) who terrorizes the life out ofCharles Grodin, who in the film looks disappointed in the sophomoric, unfunny material.
This movie is only 5 years old and yet Martin Short looks so young.
(BTW, Martin Short plays the funniest priest in the history of film besides the funniest child character ever!) Charles Grodin is perfect as Clifford's poor frustrated uncle!
How can people say that Martin Short isn't a ten year old boy??
Just looking at Martin Short dressed up as Clifford makes me burst out laughing.
HAHAHA great movie :) and Martin Short actually looks like a ten-year-old!
1,000,000,000,000 stars for Clifford, the outstanding movie that WILL and I reassure u, WILLLLLLLL make u laugh.Short is a random guy...
or have seen it and wanna see movies like it watch either Rushmore or Uncle Buck or in extreme cases Raising Arizona (for the same zany comedy purposes)As for a rating for clifford...
Charles Grodin was good in "Midnight Run" and "Real Life", Martin Short is funny too.
Martin Short plays a kid who really wants to ride his uncle's roller coaster or something like that, and the ENTIRE movie is Short doing cruel things to Grodin in order to get to ride.
Clifford (Martin Short) is an obnoxious child who is making his parents' lives a living hell.
Imagine making a film very much like "Problem Child" but with an adult inexplicably playing the kid and you have "Clifford".
I have a hard time seeing how this film has an almost average rating, as there is literally nothing about the movie I liked..
Martin Short and Charles Grodin pair up for a hilarious movie about a naughty little boy who's only desire in life is to take a trip to Dinosaur World.
It's not hard to buy Martin Short as a 10 year old child thanks to his brilliant acting methods based off of, what I believe is, pain-in-the-rear little brothers.
Horrible plot horrible script I mean a 40 yr old man playing a kid...,,,, But yet short somehow makes this work it's a light hearted comedy that I found Rather enjoyable you need to not be so uptight and just be like what the hell To enjoy this movie if you can't do that if you take yourself to seriously you won't like it And you be like a few reviewers on here and hate on the movie Be warned it is normal to loathe the character of Clifford Your either gonna love the character of Clifford or want to kill him lol.
The film revolves around its titular character, played by Martin Short at his most chaotic; a destructive, menacing, and spoiled brat of a ten-year-old who carries around his toy dinosaur everywhere he goes and dreams of going to the themepark Dinosaur World in California.
While on a flight to Hawaii with his parents, the plane makes an emergency landing in Los Angeles because of Clifford's rowdy behavior, leaving his mother and father stranded without a way to get to his father's important conference.His father decides to dump Clifford off with his Uncle Martin and his fiancée Sarah (Charles Grodin and Mary Steenburgen) at their home in Los Angeles while both him and his wife catch another flight to Hawaii.
He's the kind that you cannot leave unattended for more than five minutes or else your home, your possessions, and your life will be in shambles.Clifford winds up making life a living hell for Uncle Martin, going as far as to ruin an important business meeting, in addition to embarrassing him in front of clients among other things, all while Sarah doesn't believe a boy so innocuous could ever be up to no good.
If nothing else, the film itself is a testament to the real comedic talent and energy of Martin Short, who, at 44 at the time this film was made, plays a convincing ten-year-old menace, with no social tact or grace whatsoever.
The scene is one of the few where there is literally nothing besides Grodin, Short, and the matter at hand (if you don't count Clifford's toy dinosaur), and because of it, the screenwriters have time to regain their composure and march on accordingly before diving into more ridiculous antics.With that, Clifford is, at the very least, an interesting film, despite boasting the "maximum antics, minimum laughter" idea of their being a lot going on narratively, but little occurring in a comedic sense.
Cut out Short's energetic performance and Grodin's restraint and what you have remaining is a film that has difficultly standing on its own two legs thanks to a feeble and overall redundant premise that, like the character, breeds little more than contempt by the time it's over.Starring: Martin Short, Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Kind, and Jennifer Savidge.
Martin Short plays a 10-year-old troublemaker who makes life miserable for all who come in contact with him (namely uncle Charles Grodin and aunt Mary Steenburgen) in this stinky dog of a flick.
It feels like the film-makers were trying to fool their audience with Short's character and the big idea fell flat on its face within the first few minutes.
One of Cliffords many funny lines was changed around a bit and used in this summary.The family really enjoyed this movie and for quite awhile afterwards we would use some of Cliffords lines,like..."Shame on your eyes" "Got any of that chok-lat" and "No-no nothings".Martin Short makes the character really work because it seems like he's not using a script but letting the boy character take over him.Like many characters in movies he's enjoyable to watch but I wouldn't want to be around him for more than 30 seconds in real life.The bad qualities of many children have been taken and put into one funny Clifford.He's self-centered,peseta,untruthful and hyper/bratty.------Several years ago I saw a movie about a person that invented a halloween mask for children,every time a certain commercial jingle played on TV any child wearing one of the masks would go into trauma.Although the children's faces weren't shown after the viewer does know a large spider comes out of the mask's eye opening in one scene.Torturing little children,now that's pretty wicked.For me a movie like that is horrible,maybe one of the worst of all time and would not recommend it to other people.This brings up the other part of my summary"something going on here".The negative comments that are so strong against "Clifford" would seem more suited for the above mask movie.Since sequels were made to that mask movie maybe it was enjoyed by some of the anti-Clifford crowd.Clifford has my vote no matter how many just-can't-figure-it-out negative comments are made.A family friend asked to view our Clifford tape out of curiosity,they couldn't go five minutes without laughing,said it was one of the funniest movies they ever seen..
So, you see, I guess you have to be a little strange to understand - and be amused by - this sort of material.Funniest moment for me - at the dinner, when some older lady kept making over how "adorable" Clifford was - and he just loses it!Funniest line - "Oh Ms. Sarah - Uncle Martin's gone Nutty-Nuts!
I don't understand the negative remarks about this movie, but If your child is like Clifford, They will learn that if you destroy anyone that stands in the way of your dreams, you will be alone, and lose all of your dreams.
The even worse part is that none of those films were really worth the wait and this Martin Short/Charles Grodin family oriented comedy ranks as one of them.
The mirthless plot has to do with the misadventures of Clifford (Short) and his Uncle Martin (Grodin) on a day when the kid hating man has to babysit his unruly nephew.
Martin Short, Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen, Dabney Coleman, Richard Kind, Ben Savage.
Very funny Martin Short vehicle features him as a 10-year old boy who makes life a living hell for his uncle during a visit.
Martin Short rocks as Clifford, and the jokes in the movie are so random and Un-10-year old that you just have to laugh!
The combination of Martin short (as a 10 year old!) and the ever great Charles Grodin, make for ONE FUNNY ZANY COMEDY!
Clifford is a very funny movie if u get the oddball comedy of martin short.
I have seen this film several times and am amazed by Martin Short's performance as a young boy.
While Charles Grodin isn't that fantastic as Uncle Martin, it's worth watching him so you can see the insanity that is Martin Short as Clifford.
Martin Short's performance as the 10-year-old trouble maker is believable and hilarious and in my opinion his best work.
Charles Grodin gives the best performance since the HeartBreak Kid playing the nerve-wracked Uncle Martin who is forced to watch over Clifford as he makes his life a living hell.
The movie is droll and smart, and is typical of the funniness of Flaherty and Short, with classic Grodin thrown in.Mary Steenburgen isnt really that big of a role, and she is NO reason to get it.
But if you liked the Martin Short Show (not the talk show) and SCTV (where are those DVDs anyway?), then you will love this film.The best scene is after Grodin gets arrested and talks to Short.
Martin Short plays Clifford, who is one of the most annoying characters ever.
Seriously, Clifford does not at all look like a ten year old as SHort is playing him.
"Why can't you just sit there and listen to me like a real little boy," Grodin's character says something along those lines as we see Clifford attempt to look "normal." I love this movie and hope many people out there see how dry, strange and wonderful this film and Martin's performance is.
Turns out, whatever Martin Short, Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen, & the others were saying weren't really that bad.
The best comedy of the early 90's, Martin Short is a genius as the 10 year old Clifford.
That is the interpretation I choose to believe, because it makes Clifford's apparent bad behavior much easier to understand.Martin Short is a remarkable actor and actually ends up being a very believable 10-year-old, although a very weird one!.
People that enjoy "Clifford" may find it to their liking, but "The Loved One" makes you REALLY think.Movies such as "Clifford" are obviously an acquired taste, for sure, and I simply found it wanting.
Now, in conclusion, to all you Martin Short, Charles Grodin, or Mary Steenburgen fans who have not seen this excellent comedy about a ten-year-old menace from hell, I highly recommend it..
Martin Short is a genius in this movie.
I really love Martin Short and he makes the Clifford character so, so funny.
Being a fan of Martin Short, not so much of his movies, but rather of his work on SCTV, I went into watching 'Clifford' with more of a sense of dread than hope.
As Clifford, Martin Short and Paul Flaherty seem to be playing the character straight, that Clifford is in fact a little boy.
Part of the reason begins with Martin Short who plays a 10-year old brat, who doesn't look, talk, act or dress like any little boy that I have ever seen.The movie begins far in the future as Short plays an elderly man working in a home for unruly kids.