Back to trending
Kindergarten Cop

Kindergarten Cop

Comedy · 1990

Hard-edged cop John Kimble gets more than he bargained for when he goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to get the goods on a brutal drug lord while at the same time protecting the man's young son. Pitted against a class of boisterous moppets whose antics try his patience and test his mettle, Kimble may have met his match … in more ways than one.

Movie details

Kindergarten Cop

“Go ahead, YOU tell him you didn't do your homework.”

1990 Comedy 1h 51m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.3 / 10

174.3K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

54 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

61 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Hard-edged cop John Kimble gets more than he bargained for when he goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to get the goods on a brutal drug lord while at the same time protecting the man's young son. Pitted against a class of boisterous moppets whose antics try his patience and test his mettle, Kimble may have met his match … in more ways than one.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Kindergarten Cop?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Duplex

Duplex

Comedy · 2003

When a young couple buys their dream home, they have no idea what the sweet little old lady upstairs is going to put them through!

Drillbit Taylor

Drillbit Taylor

Comedy · 2008

Dealing with a sociopathic school bully, three high school freshmen hire a low-budget bodyguard to protect them, not realizing he is just a homeless beggar and petty thief looking for some easy cash.

Taking Care of Business

Taking Care of Business

Comedy · 1990

An uptight advertising exec has his entire life in a filofax organizer which mistakenly ends up in the hands of a friendly convict who poses as him.

Dragnet

Dragnet

Action · 1987

LAPD Sgt. Joe Friday -- the equally straight-laced nephew of the famous police sergeant of the same name -- is paired up with a young, freewheeling detective named Pep Streebeck. After investigating some strange robberies at the local zoo and the theft of a stockpile of pornographic magazines, they uncover cult activity in the heart of the city and are hot on the case to figure out who's behind it all.

Ride Along

Ride Along

Action · 2014

For the past two years, high-school security guard Ben has been trying to show decorated APD detective James that he's more than just a video-game junkie who's unworthy of James' sister, Angela. When Ben finally gets accepted into the academy, he thinks he's earned the seasoned policeman's respect and asks for his blessing to marry Angela. Knowing that a ride along will demonstrate if Ben has what it takes to take care of his sister, James invites him on a shift designed to scare the hell out of the trainee. But when the wild night leads them to the most notorious criminal in the city, James will find that his new partner's rapid-fire mouth is just as dangerous as the bullets speeding at it.

Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment

Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment

Comedy · 1985

Officer Carey Mahoney and his cohorts have finally graduated from the Police Academy and are about to hit the streets on their first assignment. Question is, are they ready to do battle with a band of graffiti-tagging terrorists? Time will tell, but don't sell short this cheerful band of doltish boys in blue.

Ride Along 2

Ride Along 2

Action · 2016

As his wedding day approaches, Ben heads to Miami with his soon-to-be brother-in-law James to bring down a drug dealer who's supplying the dealers of Atlanta with product.

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1

Comedy · 1993

An LA detective is murdered because she has microfilm with the recipe to make cocaine cookies. Two cops partner to find and stop the fiends before they can dope the nation by distributing their wares via the 'Wilderness Girls' cookie drive.

K-9

K-9

Action · 1989

The extravagant cop Michael Dooley needs some help to fight a drug dealer who has tried to kill him. A "friend" gives him a dog named Jerry Lee (Officer Lewis), who has been trained to smell drugs. With his help, Dooley sets out to put his enemy behind the bars, but Jerry Lee has a personality of his own and works only when he wants to. On the other hand, the dog is quite good at destroying Dooley's car, house and sex-life...

High Heels and Low Lifes

High Heels and Low Lifes

Action · 2001

Two friends are drawn into a seedy underworld of extortion and violence when they try to blackmail a gang of bank robbers.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Ivan Reitman

Written by

Murray Salem · Timothy Harris · Herschel Weingrod

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Kimble

Penelope Ann Miller

Penelope Ann Miller

Joyce

Pamela Reed

Pamela Reed

Phoebe

Linda Hunt

Linda Hunt

Miss Schlowski

Richard Tyson

Richard Tyson

Crisp

Carroll Baker

Carroll Baker

Eleanor Crisp

J

Joseph Cousins

Dominic

Court is in session

Put Kindergarten Cop on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Big-Idea Head

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.