Another Unsolicited Review

I've been back on track watching my backlogged VHS tapes lately, and I can't help my share my opinions of each one as they come. I think that's not entirely unreasonable considering that the majority of them are obscure enough to not have been granted critical consideration even on the inclusive internet. I try to alternate the ones I'm really excited about with the ones I rather regret buying, not that either of those has a consistently better track record.

"PK And The Kid" is one of the ones I was not looking forward to. I bought it maybe because I was eager to buy something and there was nothing better. It had an interesting title and a peculiar case. Months later, I finally got to it, and I'll say at least that it held my attention. PK is a runaway teen portrayed by Molly Ringwald, who really had something there in the 80s. "The Kid" is Kid Kane, who I think is a trucker turned arm-wrestler. He is at his best when he is quiet, which I don't mean as a knock on his acting. Ringwald does a fair job herself, and could have used more dialogue.

PK runs away from a bad home, running into the Kid, who is on his way to a big arm-wrestling tournament. It's a story as old as the hills, of course. The two of them engage in platonic bonding (he being a good bit older) in between his colorful Clint Eastwood comedy-esque escapades and her repeated run-ins with her mother's boyfriend or husband (however the case may be). That takes it through the end of the second act.

The third act tries to fit in the conclusion of her story and of his, but it's too bad that their stories aren't any more necessarily intertwined than they are. That aside, I was engaged all the way though, and there was adequate reward apart from the late appearance of football legend John Madden and a panoply of arm-wrestling action that somewhat diverges from the general thrust of the film. Yeah, I'd say I liked it just fine.