PEE-WEE’S BIG HOLIDAY
- A Netflix Original Film
- Starring
- Pee-wee Herman
- Joe Manganiello
- Written by Paul Reubens and Paul Rust
- Music by Mark Mothersbaugh
- Produced by Judd Apatow & Paul Reubens
- Directed by John Lee
- Premiered March, 2016
Pee-wee Herman returns to a place where “other events” never happened. Not only is Pee-wee’s Big Holiday a film which bypasses the infamous masturbation plight of beloved icon Pee-wee Herman’s real-world creator Paul Reubens, but it neatly erases any legacy related to Pee-wee’s previous history or accomplishments in film or television.
MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Pee-wee agrees to meet his new-found friend Joe Manganiello (played by Joe Manganiello) at the actor’s birthday party in New York City, forcing Pee-wee to leave the comfortable confines of his friendly, all-American hometown Fairville.
A running theme of much of Reuben’s comedy is the character’s obliviousness to his own budding sexuality. Reubens has described his alter-ego as a boy in the body of a grown man, setting the stage for much innuendo. It’s a coy, brilliant vehicle—the boy who’s just discovering romantic attachments with men while still imbued with a gleeful, toy-obsessed childhood. Females make great friends, but he mostly shuns their romantic overtures while connecting with rebellious men and their loner ways.
In Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Pee-wee took up with an escaped convict named Mickey, who was imprisoned for ripping off the Do-Not-Remove tag from a mattress. Pee-wee identifies with this rebel, forming an instant bond with him. Eventually when stopped at a road-block, the two disguise themselves as a straight couple—Pee-wee dressed in drag and laying affectionately against Mickey. Their familiarity with each other is sweet and funny, but gay men knew instinctively what those signals meant.
Now, over thirty years later, in Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, Reubens is able to play with those gay cues openly. Working in a diner, Pee-wee’s life changes suddenly when Joe rides up on a motorcycle, mixes some tunes on the jukebox by banging on it, and orders a chocolate milkshake. Bonded together by a love for Root Beer Barrels candy (with a straw), Joe and Pee-wee form an instant friendship. Joe takes him out for a bike ride, eventually convincing Pee-wee to leave Fairville and travel alone, cross-country, for Joe’s upcoming birthday party in Manhattan.
Pee-wee’s trek is punctuated with fevered dreams of Joe and Pee-wee romping together, fireworks aflame, riding polo ponies, touching each other casually and wearing identical suits.
Along the way, Pee-wee rides in a flying car, gets rescued by Grizzly Bear Dan, makes new friends in a mobile salon, responds appropriately to a snake farm, joins the Amish, plays a tune on a balloon, and gets kidnapped by a trio of Russ Meyer sexpots. Forming an attachment to one of them who’s also named Pee-wee, this rebel on the run is someone he identifies with too, but he’s just not that into girls.
At one point, Pee-wee stops for help at a farmhouse. The friendly farmer asks him into dinner, where a parade of voluptuous, busty daughters introduce themselves. Each young lady carries a home-made food dish, introducing herself along with a tempting description of the food. Pee-wee politely rebuffs each one’s advances, and later attempts to fend off all of them without waking the farmer. A shotgun wedding is avoided with the help of a handy disguise kit.
Reubens uses these moments to define Pee-wee’s place as a kid on the verge of sexual identity. Joe Manganiello gamely plays his part as the object of desire, and the effect of such male affection between them onscreen is powerfully sweet. When Pee-wee misses the party (trapped just outside), Joe sulks inconsolably in his bedroom, pounding down potato chips and emotionally unable to meet his party guests (Elton, Serena, and Venus) because Pee-wee isn’t there.
When eventually the two are reunited, Joe and Pee-wee retire alone to sip Root Beer Barrels from straws—in the treehouse that Joe built for them to share together.
It’s impressive how Reubens has created a love story while still retaining the subtleties of Pee-wee’s naivete. As a kid, this kind of movie would have had a big impact on me. It’s striking to think how much has changed in our culture in the four decades since Pee-wee’s Big Adventure premiered.
It’s great to see Pee-wee back again. At sixty-plus years of age, it’s unlikely that we’ll see a lot more of Reubens in this role (the budget to de-age him was apparently extensive), but I love the character and will always want more. Reubens himself has withstood public mocking (I’m proud to welcome him as an icon of masturbation), and this is a wonderful way of proving that he’s a great comic. Such sweetness is rare in comedies these days, and I love his artful wit. Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday is a welcome return home.
