Short Circuit 2 (1988)

Short Circuit 2 (1988)

Directed by: Kenneth Johnson

Starring: Tim Blaney, Fisher Stevens, Michael McKean

Oh boy, a sequel of a movie about an obnoxious robot that just repeated pop culture references all the time. I do like the cutout of Fisher Stevens’ head on the poster that’s both behind and in front of Johnny 5’s. Good job, guys.

Stevens, the Indian guy from the first Short Circuit, has moved on to the big city to sell remote control robot toys that look like Johnny 5 (who is alive, if you’ll recall). Michael McKean shows up and convinces him to build a bunch of these toys for a toy company, but they’ll need help building them… Good thing Johnny 5 gets shipped to them! And wacky hijinks ensue! I hate wacky hijinks.

This is a hard movie to watch. Not because it’s emotional or disturbing or anything, just because it’s really bad, you already know what’s going to happen, and getting from point A to point B is such a drawn-out and painful affair that you’re just better off not watching it at all.

Michael McKean is one of those actors who I can never decide if I like or not. I mean, on one hand he’ll be funny in movies like This is Spinal Tap and Clue, but he’s also in a lot of really bad movies where he’s completely unfunny, like this thing or Coneheads. I don’t really have a point with this, other than to say that there’s nothing even remotely funny about Short Circuit 2. Which is really no surprise, as the same can be said about the first movie.