Look Who's Talking Now

Look Who's Talking Now is a 1993 American romantic comedy film, and the third and final installment in the film series that began with Look Who's Talking in 1989. It finds John Travolta and Kirstie Alley reprising their roles as James and Mollie Ubriacco, respectively, and introducing the newly extended family members to it.

Look Who's Talking Now
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom Ropelewski
Produced byJonathan D. Krane
Written byTom Ropelewski
Leslie Dixon
Based onCharacters
by Amy Heckerling
Starring
Music byWilliam Ross
CinematographyOliver Stapleton
Edited byHenry Hitner
Michael A. Stevenson
Distributed byTriStar Pictures
Release date
  • November 5, 1993 (1993-11-05)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
Canada
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22 million
Box office$10,340,263[1]

David Gallagher and Tabitha Lupien portray Mikey and Julie respectively. Unlike the previous films, it does not feature the voiceover talents of Bruce Willis, Roseanne Barr, or Joan Rivers as their interior monologues; rather, Danny DeVito and Diane Keaton provide voiceover roles for their newly acquired dogs, Rocks and Daphne, respectively, and it focuses more on their lives.

Lysette Anthony and Olympia Dukakis costar. George Segal and Charles Barkley have cameo roles.

Plot

A young cross breed puppy is up for sale and we can hear him talking. He sees Mikey passing by him and begs him to take him home. Mikey, however, has to hurry past in tow of his mother, and two harsh looking individuals buy the puppy. He manages to escape them and starts his life as a stray.

James is a private air pilot working for Samantha - who we see has a crush on him and is always trying to extend the trips to spend more time with him; something James is very oblivious about. Mollie is looking for a job after getting laid off due to the recession. Mikey tells Santa Claus that he wants a dog for Christmas, James feels the time has come to give him one and tells Samantha about this.

One day, though, the dog gets caught by the animal rescue force and taken to a kennel, where several others are kept - presumably also found on the streets. He is about to be put down on the same day that James brings Mikey there to select one. Overjoyed, he bumps into the dog he saw as a puppy, and takes an instant liking to him and decides to take him home. He names the dog Rocks.

When James, Mikey, and Rocks get home, they see that Samantha is there and has brought over her dog, Daphne, who is highly trained and she wants James to have her as a present from her. Rocks and Daphne do not get along. Rocks is messy and untrained while Daphne is pedigreed and well trained to be tidy and obedient, though she is also spoiled. However, Daphne bonds with Julie while Rocks does with Mikey. Rocks wears Mollie's patience due to his untrained behavior, leaving her to clean up after his messes.

Samantha starts having James fly on long trips to many different cities and keeps him away from his family. Mollie has to job hunt, take care of two kids, and take care of the two dogs. James and Mollie develop tensions over Samantha. Mollie suspects that James is cheating on her, if not she has strong feelings that Samantha has been trying to steal him from her. Even her own mother suspects, that Samantha is doing what she can to part her and James.

When she confronts James, he uses her past as leverage to and even admits he doesn't know if Mollie's cut off ties with Albert (Mikey's biological father). He admits he has faith in his wife and wants her the same; to which she agrees but still distrusts Samantha's intentions. After another trip, both have dreams of the other being unfaithful, highlighting their fears. Despite these tensions, however, James and Mollie are clearly still in love with each other and miss each other while they're apart. As Mollie becomes more tired, Daphne realizes that she needs to become more independent.

Rocks helps her learn how to go outside by herself and use her sense of smell to track people or things. The two dogs start becoming friends. On Christmas Eve, Samantha sets up a plan to trick James into spending the night with her. She tricks him into coming to her fancy cabin in the woods by saying that she wants to introduce him to a prospective wealthy client. She stalls for time until it is too dangerous for James to leave because a snowstorm outside has gotten too dangerous.

James calls Mollie to tell her that he cannot make it home for Christmas. Mollie learns that he is alone with Samantha and becomes devastated that he is going to cheat on her. However, Mollie's mother convinces her to trust her instincts that James loves her and would never do that.

Mollie decides to drive through the storm with the kids and the two dogs to "bring Christmas to Daddy." Their car gets stuck in the woods due to the severe cold and the storm. They are attacked by wolves, and Rocks scares the wolves off while Mollie and her kids get inside the car. Daphne sets out to find help using the tracking skills that Rocks taught her.

Rocks runs out to track down James on his own. He finds Samantha's cabin, and James realizes that Mollie has set out to find him. He confronts Samantha about her lies and intentions and quits his job, then goes with Rocks to track down his family. They are attacked by wolves, and Rocks fights them off while James escapes. Meanwhile, Daphne has found some forest rangers that take Mollie, the kids, and Daphne to safety into their cabin. They worry about James and Rocks. James finds them, and Rocks quickly runs in afterward to show that he survived the encounter with the wolves. The family and dogs are happily reunited and spend Christmas together.

Cast
Voices
Additional Dog/Wolf Voices

Production

Unlike the previous films, the children no longer have voiceovers for their inner thoughts, since they are now old enough to talk for themselves. Danny DeVito and Diane Keaton portray the Ubriaccos' dogs. This also marked the film debuts of Tabitha Lupien, and David Gallagher, best known for his later role as Simon Camden on 7th Heaven. George Segal who portrayed Albert, the first film's antagonist and Mikey's biological father, reappears briefly.

Charles Barkley makes a cameo appearance as himself. Twink Caplan, who portrayed Mollie's best friend, Rona, in the previous two films, does not appear nor is she mentioned in this one. Elias Koteas, who portrayed Mollie's brother, Stuart, in the second film also does not appear nor is he mentioned in this one. Both Caplan and Koteas declined to return for this one.

French singer Jordy performs, along with David Gallagher and Tabitha Lupien, amongst other children, in a special music video for the film, titled It's Christmas, C'est Noel, from the album of Christmas, Potion Magique.

Release

The film was released in the United Kingdom on May 27, 1994.[2]

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with 25 reviews, the film has a rare approval rating of 0% – meaning no favorable reviews whatsoever – receiving an average rating of 2.53/10. The site's critical consensus simply reads "Look Who's Talking Now: Look away.[3] Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four and remarked that "it looks like it was chucked up by an automatic screenwriting machine."[4] Gene Siskel gave the film zero stars and called it "An abysmal, embarrassing sequel."[5]

Dan Cox of Variety wrote, "Stretching a premise that one might say has gone to the dogs, 'Look Who's Talking Now' runs feebly on the calculated steam of its forebears."[6] Rita Kempley of The Washington Post wrote, "Take the 'dle' out of 'poodle' and you've pretty much got the leitmotif of 'Look Who's Talking Now,' a crude and mawkish film in which dogs attempt to communicate with Kirstie Alley and John Travolta."[7]

Stephen Holden of The New York Times was somewhat positive, writing that "the sound of stars mouthing the inner thoughts of dogs is somehow funnier than that of grownup actors doing wisecracking voice overs for gurgling infants."[8] Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times was also somewhat positive, calling the film "borderline pleasant" because Travolta and Alley "are a marvelous team."[9]

Leonard Maltin's film guide gave it two stars out of four, saying "The first one was cute, the second one was dreadful; this third entry in the series falls somewhere in between."[10]

Box office

Look Who's Talking Now was a box office bomb, only earning over $10 million against its $22 million budget, making it the lowest-grossing film in the series.[11][12] In its opening week, the film also faced stiff competition for an audience from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

References
  1. Look Who's Talking Now at Box Office Mojo
  2. "UK Weekend Box Office 27th May 1994 - 29th May 1994". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  3. "Look Who's Talking Now (1993)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  4. Ebert, Roger (November 5, 1993). "Look Who's Talking Now". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  5. Siskel, Gene (November 19, 1993). "'Addams Family Values' needs the light of day". Chicago Tribune. Section 7, page I.
  6. Cox, Dan(November 15, 1993). "Look Who's Talking Now". Variety. 31.
  7. Kempley, Rita (November 8, 1993). "'Talking' 3: Going to The Dogs". The Washington Post. B10.
  8. Holden, Stephen (November 5, 1993). "Inner Voices, This Time From Dogs". The New York Times C12.
  9. Rainer, Peter (November 5, 1993). "MOVIE REVIEW : 'Look Who's Talking' Series Goes to Dogs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  10. Maltin, Leonard, ed. (1995). Leonard Maltin's 1996 Movie & Video Guide. Signet. p. 777. ISBN 0-451-18505-6.
  11. Associated Press (November 5, 1993). "Third `Talking' Is His Big Second Chance Box office: As a bankruptcy veteran, producer Jonathan D. Krane concedes mistakes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
  12. Associated Press (November 5, 1993). "Alone Wraps Up Holiday Box Office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
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