1989 film by Jim Sotos
Beverly Hills Brats is a 1989 American comedy film. Directed by Jim Sotos, the film stars Peter Billingsley, Martin Sheen, Burt Young, Terry Moore, George Kirby, Ruby Keeler (in her final film) and Whoopi Goldberg in a cameo role.
Plot
Scooter is a teen from a wealthy Beverly Hills family. After his plastic surgeon father remarries, Scooter is virtually ignored by his father and stepmother), and treated badly by his two other spoiled siblings, Sterling and Tiffany. Scooter devises a plan to fake his own kidnapping to get his parents' attention and enlists the help of two bumbling crooks, Clive and Elmo. After Scooter is "kidnapped" and a ransom is demanded, he quickly realizes that his plan failed to work and his parents don't miss him.
Reception
According to a review at TV guide, "Martin Sheen is reported to have said that he got involved with BEVERLY HILLS BRATS mainly to prove that he could do comedy, and--though the film itself is a comedy in intent only--neither he nor his son Ramon does a bad job here. But the cast is done in by a feeble script. The film has the ingredients for a sharp, corrosive farce, but to do so, it also needed a sharp, corrosive sensibility behind the camera."[3] Leonard Maltin described the film as an "(a)nnoying, pretentious so-called satire".[4] The Motion Picture Annual found: "is merely a movie made in Beverly Hills for people who live in Beverly Hills" and that "this relentlessly unfunny comedy that wastes the talents of some of Hollywood's better character actors (without whom it) probably would not have seen the light of day."[5]
