Cast: Rob Schneider, David Carradine, Jennifer Morrison, Scott Wilson, Henry Gibson; Director: Rob Schneider; Producers: Mark A.Z. Dippe, David Hillary, Timothy Wayne Peternel, John Schneider, Rob Schneider; Screenwriter: Josh Lieb; Music: John Hunter; Editor: Gregor Babor, Richard Halsey; Genre: Comedy; Cinematography: Victor Hammer; Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer MGM; Location: Stockton, California, USA; Running Time: 100 min;
Technical Assessment: 2.5
Moral Assessment: 2.5
CINEMA Rating: For mature viewers 18 and above
Wealthy Stan Minton (Rob Schneider), a crooked real estate agent is arrested for fraud and convicted. By some manipulation, Stan is able to get the judge to give him an allowable six months break before he begins his prison term. His greatest fear of being in prison is what the prisoners could do to him, and he knows that he would not be able to defend himself. So he scouts for someone who could train him to take care of himself in whatever situation the prisoners would put him in. Stan meets a mysterious master of Martial Arts (David Carradine) and recruits him to train him to be a tough and expert fighter, capable of taking on whoever and however many would want to do him harm. The result is a Stan who goes to prison, is one who could out-do and defeat who ever tries to put one over him. Stan not only gains the respect of all the inmates; he is also able to transform his rowdy, violent and hardened prison mates into an orderly and civil community. This unexpected change however, upsets the prison warden’s plan of having the prison complex sold for his profit. It was the warden who had Stan transferred to his jail to serve his prison term there, at the same time help the warden to plan and arrange the sale. To make the prison compound available to prospective buyers, the warden wants the prisoners incited into a melee of fighting, killing each other and totally damaging the entire place. Stan is commanded to reverse what he has done, or else…!
Rob Schneider supported by David Carradine: both come up with their part of the story with effective and natural acting. The first half of the film centers on them as one teaches the other all that are needed to become an effective martial arts expert. All the things Stan had to practice to make him a fit man, and durable, may not be true to real life like: being burned; swallowing garbage, and animal food; eating live snake and scorpions, among others being kicked and walloped. There are funny and laughable moments. Other scenes may be reminiscent of those shown in comedies which Rod Schneider had starred in.
Stan gets transformed from a guy who was worried about his own safety and well-being, into someone who learned to care about his inmates, and the whole prison community. He learned to appreciate and cared about his wife and how she felt and what she wanted. Despite these positive issues and matters are present in the movie story, it is a film that should be rated for adults only. Certain questionable subject matters are not clearly represented. For instance, the subject of prison rape is bandied around and some flashes of these are suggested visually. Nudity and some sexual situations are also presented. When Stan had convinced all his prison inmates to stop raping each other, he tells them however, that consensual homosexual relationship is alright, which is not really accepted by society.
