Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure understands something fundamental: if you commit to the bit hard enough, anything works.

I love this fucking movie. It’s so funny. My favorite scene is Pee-wee winning over the biker bar with his dance to “Tequila,” getting gifted a motorcycle as a thanks, and then immediately crashing it into their sign on the way out. That fucking kills me every time. The comedic timing is absolutely perfect - the bikers’ genuine affection for him followed instantly by their gift being destroyed.

I also just watched Martin Short’s Clifford recently, and it’s crazy how similar these characters are - both adult man-babies throwing tantrums and causing chaos. But that movie totally repulsed me while this one totally works for me. Even sitting with it now, years after first seeing it, I still don’t fully understand why this movie works. Pee-wee is kind of a jerk. He’s annoying. He’s selfish and childish and obsessive. And yet I am so utterly charmed by the whole thing.

I have to mention this because it haunted me through the entire screening: I had looked at a cursed image of young Danny Elfman before watching this, and I couldn’t keep it out of my brain the whole time. It’s crazy how much he looks like modern-day Carrot Top. I’m sorry for putting that in your head too, but I had to share this burden.

It’s incredible. Paul Reubens is walking such a tightrope with this performance. One degree off in any direction and the whole thing collapses into something unwatchable. But he nails it completely - he makes Pee-wee irritating but never grating, childish but never pathetic, weird but never off-putting. It’s one of the most precisely calibrated comedic performances I’ve ever seen.

This is a perfect movie. Tim Burton’s directorial debut is a masterpiece of tone, and I love Paul Reubens for giving us this character.

Also on Letterboxd