''Meatballs Part II'' is a 1984 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

and the in-name only

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the sam ...

to the 1979 film '' Meatballs''. The film stars

Richard Mulligan Richard Mulligan (November 13, 1932 – September 26, 2000) was an American character actor known for his roles in the sitcoms ''Soap'' (1977–1981) and ''Empty Nest'' (1988–1995),. Mulligan was the winner of two Emmy Awards (1980 ...

Hamilton Camp Hamilton Camp (Born Robin S. Camp, 30 October 1934 – 2 October 2005) was a London-born actor and singer, who relocated to the United States with his family when he was a young child. He became an American folk singer during he 1960s, and ev ...

, John Mengatti, Kim Richards,

Archie Hahn Charles Archibald Hahn (September 14, 1880 – January 21, 1955) was an American track athlete and is widely regarded as one of the best sprinters of the early 20th century. He is the first athlete to win both the 100m and 200m race at the sam ...

, Misty Rowe, and

John Larroquette John Bernard Larroquette (; born November 25, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in the NBC military drama series '' Baa Baa Black Sheep'' (1976–1978), the NBC sitcom ''Night Court'' (1984–1992; for which he recei ...

, and was directed by Ken Wiederhorn. The

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, ...

for the film was written by Bruce Franklin Singer based on a story by Martin Kitrosser and Carol Watson.

Plot

The owner of Camp Sasquatch, Giddy, tries to keep his camp open after Hershy, the owner of Camp Patton, located just across the lake, wants to buy the entire lake for Camp Patton. Giddy suggests settling the issue with the traditional end-of-the-summer boxing match over rights to the lake. A tough, inner city punk named Flash is at Camp Sasquatch for community service as a counselor-in-training. Flash is recruited to box in order to save Sasquatch. Cheryl, a naive teen on whom Flash has set his sights, has never seen a "

pinky Pinky may refer to: * Pinky finger, the smallest finger on the human hand People * Pinky Maidasani, first female folk rapper and Indian playback singer * Pinky Rajput (born 1969), Indian voice artist * Pinky (nickname), a list * Pinky Lee (19 ...

", so her fellow teenage girl campers arrange for her to see a man naked. Meanwhile, the campers try to hide an alien from another planet who has been dropped off by his parents to learn Earth culture. He is nicknamed "Meathead" by the kids after repeating one of them saying "Me, Ted".

Cast

as Coach Giddy *

as Colonel Jack 'Batjack' Hershy * John Mengatti as Armand 'Flash' Carducci * Kim Richards as Cheryl *

as Jamie / Voice of Meathead * Misty Rowe as Fanny *

as Lieutenant Felix Foxglove *

Paul Reubens Paul Reubens (; born Rubenfeld; August 27, 1952) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and children's entertainer. He is known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s, ...

as Albert * Joe Nipote as 'Boomer' *

Jason Hervey Jason Robert Hervey (born April 6, 1972) is an American actor and television producer. He is best known for his role as Wayne Arnold on ''The Wonder Years''. Early life and acting Hervey was born in Los Angeles, the son of Marsha, a talent agent, ...

as Tommy * Ralph Seymour as Eddie *

Elayne Boosler {{Orphan, date=July 2021 Elayne is a female given name of French origin, which means "light". The name can be a variant of Elaine or Elena. Elayne may refer to: People * Elayne Angel *Elayne Arrington * Elayne Boosler (born 1952), American comed ...

as Mother * Nancy Glass as Daughter *

Felix Silla Felix Anthony Silla (January 11, 1937 – April 16, 2021), also credited as Felix Cilla, was an Italian actor and stuntman, known for his career in Hollywood in TV and film. Silla starting his career in the circus, but is best known especia ...

as 'Meathead' * Joaquin Martinez as Chief Rawhide * Blackie Dammett as Sergeant Paladin * Donald Gibb as 'Mad Dog' * Jason Luque as Jai Styxxx

Reception

''Meatballs Part II'' grossed $2,515,268 the first week-end. The film grossed $5,410,972 domestically overall.

Critical response

Critic Lawrence Van Gelder of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote in his review: "Trailing bits of ''

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burge ...

'' and '' E.T.'' and using a plot device from the 1983 film '' Screwballs,'' which itself aspired to be ''

Porky's ''Porky's'' is a 1981 sex comedy film written and directed by Bob Clark about the escapades of teenagers in 1954 at the fictional Angel Beach High School in Florida. The film influenced many writers in the teen film genre and spawned two sequels ...

'', ''Meatballs Part II'' shares with 1979's '' Meatballs'' not much more than a summer camp setting. This time - amid the efforts of two senior counselors to find sexual privacy, amid prurience and budding romance involving an innocent blonde preppy and a young punk given a choice of a counselor's job or reform school, and amid the efforts of some of the little campers to harbor an extraterrestrial - the future of Camp Sasquatch is in peril. ''

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

'' lists only two critics' reviews, both of which are negative. Lawrence Van Gelder of the ''New York Times'' said, "Pallid writing, awkward acting, familiar situations and tired jokes make the morons, wimps and losers of ''Meatballs Part II'' easy to pass up." ''TV Guide'' reported, "The difference between this movie and the original is Bill Murray, whose charm gave the first film its best moments and raised the mediocre plot into something mindless but sweet." Meanwhile, 675 users have scored the movie with an average of 2.5 out of 5; only 23% of those users reported liking "Meatballs Part II."

Release

''Meatballs Part II'' was released in theaters on July 27, 1984. The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on March 4, 2011, by

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures l ...

References

Sources

External links

MeatballsOnline
Meatballs Movie Website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meatballs Part Ii 1984 films 1980s sex comedy films American sequel films American sex comedy films 1980s English-language films Films directed by Ken Wiederhorn Films about summer camps TriStar Pictures films Teen sex comedy films 1984 comedy films 1980s American films