When his brother asks him to look after his young son, Clifford, Martin Daniels agrees, taking the boy into his home and introducing him to his future wife, Sarah. Clifford is fixated on the idea of visiting a famed theme park, and Martin, an engineer who helped build the park, makes plans to take him. But, when Clifford reveals himself to be a first-rate brat, his uncle goes bonkers, and a loony inter-generational standoff ensues.
Clifford is not bad on the acting, directing or even writing levels. It fails on a deeper level still, the level of the underlying conception. Something about the material itself is profoundly not funny. Irredeemably not funny.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
When Martin puts Clifford on a harrowing hyperspeed version of the Larry the Scary Rex ride, the special effects are impressive, but not worth waiting for.
– Caryn James,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
rotten:
Now let's have a show of hands: how many want to see Martin Short play a ten-year-old brat who makes everybody miserable and winds up staying with his uncle (Charles Grodin) in Los Angeles for a week?
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
8 Jan 2008
rotten:
Orion serves up another long-on-the-shelf turkey with this gimmicky, poorly conceived comedy.