Meatballs Collection

Sally Kellerman

Patrick Dempsey

Al Waxman

Isabelle Mejias

Shannon Tweed

Peter Snider

Jan Taylor Hendricks

Hudson Bishop

Mark Blutman

Justine Campbell

Peter Saecks

Caroline Arnold

Pamela Collyer

Colleen Passard

Willye Fleming

Maury Chaykin

George Buza

Richard Zeman

Linda Singer

Ronnie Hawkins

Rona Waddington

David Maley

George Mendeluk

Harold Ramis

Bradley Kesden

John Dunning

Paul Zaza

Len Blum

Michael Paseornek

Janis Allen

Lawrence Nesis

André Link

Daniel Goldberg

Don Carmody

Debra Karen

Peter Benison

Drew Struzan

Comedy

Meatballs III: Summer Job

Cinépix Film Properties (CFP)

Dalco

TMS Pictures

Canada

**_Fun “Meatballs” sequel, but without the innocence_**

Rudy Gerner (Patrick Dempsey) gets a summer job in upstate New York at a river “resort” on the St. Lawrence River wherein a strange woman (Sally Kellerman) helps him with his pursuits of the fairer sex. 

"Meatballs III: Summer Job" was shot in the summer of 1984, but not released until early 1987 due to the difficulty of apprehending a distributer after the box office failure of “Meatballs Part II” (1984). Of the three sequels this is the only one with connections to the original 1979 film in that Rudy, the mentee of Tripper (Bill Murray), is 2-3 years older and focused on girls. Tripper doesn’t appear in this one, but Rudy reads a letter from him.

The flick is a mixture of the original “Meatballs” with the goofiness and biker gang of the beach party films of the ’60s, plus the raunchiness of “Porky’s” (1981). It’s that last part that ruins the movie for me, although it’s thankfully not AS crude. In short, this is “Meatballs” minus the innocence. Another negative is the eye-rolling competition involving bedding the marina owner’s woman upstairs (Shannon Tweed).

Nevertheless, Dempsey makes for a quality protagonist and the subplot of the porn star (Kellerman) having to come back from the other side to do a genuine good deed is amusing, reminiscent of the quirkiness of a Woody Allen flick. Moreover, the coming-of-age element is compelling.    

There are several nubile females with winsome Isabelle Mejias playing the girl interested in Rudy, Wendy. For a superior movie featuring Isabelle, check out the similar “State Park” (1988).   

The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Hudson, Quebec, with some stuff done west of there in Ontario.

GRADE: C

English

Meatballs III: Summer Job (1986) Trailer