Rob Reiner's North: A Stumble in the Hot Streak

0:00It's April 25th, from Hollywood to your headphones. This is Entertainment and Celebrity News. Today, powered by AI, I'm Cory with the Story. Rob Reiner owned the 80s and early 90s with the killer streak of hits, dropping classics like This Is Spinal Tap in 1984. Stand by me in 1986, the Princess Bride in 1987, when Harry Met Sally in 1989, Misery in 1990, and a few good men in 1992. When came North in 1994, the kids fable that crashed his run hard. The plot follows 11-year-old North, played by Elijah Wood, fed up with his distracted parents, so he gets legally emancipated and jets around the world hunting for better ones before summer ends. Bruce Willis pops up as the Easter Bunny guiding him, with a stacked cast like Jason Alexander, Julia Lewis-Dreyfus, Dan Acroid, and even a young, Scarlett Johansson. Critics shredded it from jump.

1:00Roger Ebert unleashed his most infamous, zero-star takedown, ripping every contrived, audience offending second and calling it one of the worst films, ever. He praised Reiner's past genius, but figured this was just a wild lapse. North bombed at the box office, too, pulling in just $12 million on a $50 million budget. It sits at 12% on Rotten Tomatoes today, slam for being too savvy and unfunny, especially some outdated vits like Kathy Vaetz as an Inuit mom. Reiner brushed it off with good humor, joking that folks just didn't get the simple kid fantasy about wanting different parents. His hot streak cements his legend anyway, proving even great stumbles sometimes.