Captain Ron
"Captain Ron" is a real mess. What few laughs it gets come from Kurt Russell as the title character, a drunken seafaring bum complete with dreadlocks, scruffy beard and eyepatch. (He seems to be doing a parody of his "Escape From New York" character, right down to the gravelly voice.)Surprisingly, Martin Short offers none of the comic energy he's managed to bring to even his weakest comedies in the past. He seems to be merely going through the motions and the film suffers as a result.
The story has a suburban Chicago couple (Short and Mary Kay Place) inheriting a "yacht," which they have to pick up in the Caribbean. Their intention is to sell it, but their unenthusiastic broker (unbilled Paul Anka) offers little help when he hires a local sailor to help them bring it in.
The boat, naturally, is a bedraggled tub and the sailor isn't any better — Russell, who ogles Short's 16-year-old daughter, fondles Short's wife and teaches their young son how to drink and gamble.
A little of this goes a long way, but Eberhardt (who co-wrote and directed) milks it from every angle as they all cruise the West Indies together in their dilapidated vessel, running into bad guys along the way.