Bingo

MOVIE #1,238 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 11.15.23 The entire premise of this is basically “what if everyone treated a dog exactly like a human.” I doubt this is the first entry in this very insular and specific “sub-genre,” but it is one that I fondly remember owning on VHS as a kid and watched over and over. I have no idea what prompted me to add it to the watchlist, but I am glad I did. I had no idea what to expect seeing it as an adult but it was SO much better than I thought it would be. It's goofy and dumb, yes, but it has an actually well considered and creative plot and the production level and all the dog stunts were shockingly competent. Its director, Matthew Robbins (the auteur behind Mark Hamill’s first post Star Wars movie and Batteries Not Included, another VHS staple in my household that I need to revisit) is probably better known as a writer.

He wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s theatrical debut feature (and was apparently an uncredited writer on Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and has collaborated with Guillermo del Toro numerous times (as recently as 2022’s Pinocchio). So he’s clearly no hack, and it shows here.

I think the genius here (and yeah I’m throwing around the word “genius” in regards to 1991’s Bingo) is in how it blends some pretty dark humor with ZAZ-level visual gags and family-oriented comedy…


And this is simply a perfectly executed bit of gallow’s humor…


Some of the jokes stay way past their welcome but I think that’s the point (like the courtroom scene where Bingo is cross-examined and ends up getting thrown into human prison himself). It almost feels like unintentional anti-comedy. And the performances are rock solid (it's amazing how everyone plays it completely straight). David Rashe (Karl from Succession) plays the dad who is an NFL placekicker (his getting traded from Denver to Green Bay triggers Bingo’s quest plotline). Cindy Williams (Shirley from Laverne & Shirley) is Cindy Williams in a wacky early 90s comedy. And it’s always fun to see the great Kurt Fuller…


I really enjoyed this silly film. They don't make comedies like this anymore and that's a shame. The scene where they consume actual dog meat hot dogs at a roadside eatery really upset me as a child, but it wasn’t as bad this go-around (and it’s genuinely triumphant when Bingo sets all the captive dogs free). And as an NFL junkie, the football subplot was essentially crack for me. Seeing the family help the dad practice his kicks in a hotel room? Chef’s kiss…


And the finale which involves the crooks blackmailing the dad into missing all his field goals in order to save his son because they bet on the game only to have the cop SOMEHOW directly communicate with the sideline FROM HIS POLICE CAR (?!) because he also has money on the game (and is willing to sacrifice the boy for it!) is simply a perfect ending…


Of course, Bingo — who overcomes his fear of fire — saves the day himself. The movie concludes with him running off with the bomb suitcase and getting seriously injured, and ALL of the random characters from throughout the film magically appear in the hospital to wish him well. I’ve said it already, but you just don’t see stuff like in the movies anymore…


If you’re wondering whether my high praise for this mostly forgotten picture whose only two collected reviews on Rotten Tomatoes look like this…


…is based on nostalgia, I can honestly say that it isn’t. I think this is a legitimately funny and very fun 89-minute movie. There are plenty of bits that I didn’t even mention (like when Bingo seduces a neighbor lady dog with a bottle of champagne and he’s forced into a sobriety test by a cop the next morning after he causes a car crash). The very early 90s music by Richard Gibbs (who has an amazing film score record) is excellent too. I could go on and on...

This is simply good stuff, without any caveats.

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Bingo is a 1991 American family comedy film directed by Matthew Robbins and released by TriStar Pictures. Bingo, a runaway circus dog saves the life of Chuckie (Robert J. Steinmiller Jr.), a young boy who is somewhat an outcast within his family. The two quickly become best friends — skateboarding, playing pinball, and doing math homework together. But Chuckie's parents discover the stowaway pooch and make it clear that Bingo will not accompany them on their cross-country move. It was released on August 9, 1991.