Pee-Wee's Big Holiday

Growing up, I was always a big fan of Pee-Wee Herman.  Especially the wonderful show Pee-Wee's Playhouse.  Maybe it was all the bright colors.  Maybe it was the sheer randomness.  Maybe it was the Cyndi Lauper theme song.

I even have fond memories of the Big Top Pee-Wee movie.  I might be the only person on this planet who has those fond memories.

I even stood by Pee-Wee during the whole movie theater incident.  Well, not literally.  I wasn't there.  And it's not like I was rooting him on either.  When I heard the news break I just wasn't as grossed out as other people.

And that brings us to today, and the new movie Pee-Wee's Big Holiday.  Right away I started to wonder if this was just another Netflix attempt at reliving my childhood.  I mean, sure, it worked with Fuller House.  It couldn't fail with Pee-Wee either.

I was skeptical of the title... Pee-Wee's Big Holiday to me seemed like a cheap way of saying "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure Part 2".  I mean, you could have put anything into "Pee-Wee's Big ____________" and it could be a fun movie.

Pee-Wee's Big Vacation
Pee-Wee's Big Journey
Pee-Wee's Big Temple of Doom
Pee-Wee's Big Prisoner of Azkaban
Pee-Wee's Big Salami

Admit it, you'd watch all of those movies if they were real. I know I would.

Pee-Wee becomes friends with Joe from the Magic Mike movie, and Joe invites him to his birthday party in New York and Pee-Wee goes on an big adventure holiday to get there.  Yep, that's the basic premise.  And it was fucking great.  The magical friendship between Joe and Pee-Wee is just so... magical.  Within five minutes of meeting each other these two become the best of friends.  And Joe really wants Pee-Wee at his birthday party.  It's so oddball, and quirky, and borderline hot-man-on-man-lovely (albeit one-sided), and yet incredibly sincere at the same time.

My daughter is set to have her fifth birthday this weekend.  She's having a big party and her friends are invited, and blah blah blah I know you don't care, but seeing Joe and Pee-Wee was very much like seeing my daughter talk about her birthday party, and how she wants all her best friends to be there.  It was actually cute.

As for Pee-Wee's actual big adventure holiday in the movie, I really enjoyed seeing Pee-Wee with the Amish, and actually laughed out loud at his new friend, the salesman, and all his shitty gag products.  And I thought that Pee-Wee was pretty darn attractive in that while fuzzy sweater.  The chick Pee-Wee, from the trio of bad girls, not Mr. Herman.  I mean, sure, if you like red bow ties and secret words then he's fine for you.

What was I talking about again?

Oh right.  So if you have an hour and a half to kill, you should totally check out Pee-Wee's Big Adventure Part 2.  It doesn't have the slight edge of darkness that his first movie had (since it was a Tim Burton flick) but it's an easy movie to get in to.  You don't need to know the older movies before watching this one.  It makes you feel at home pretty easily.

And really, the more Pee-Wee the better.  I hope they make some more movies soon.

Thanks for reading!
-ryan
(Before you go, check out my all-time favorite moment from Pee-Wee's Playhouse....)