History Film / KindergartenCop

* GenericCopBadges: When Kimble arrests Cullen in the beauty salon, he is not wearing a uniform. It's a total win for reality that the security guards ''call his badge in'' to verify its authenticity. Considering that Kimble looks like a scruffy, insane vigilante, any guard worth their salt would.

* FriendsRentControl: DoubleSubverted. Joyce lives in a BigFancyHouse that leads Kimble to suspect that she is who he is looking for. However, he wrongly assumes that she purchased it with funds stolen from Crisp and, as it turns out, she is telling the truth about effectively being a caretaker for someone who lives somewhere else and only uses the place one week out of the entire year.

HilarityEnsues when tough guy Kimble turns out to be completely unprepared to take on the challenge of babysitting five-year-olds. Meanwhile, Crisp gets released from prison and sets out to find his family...

* BigBadDuumvirate: Cullen Crisp, a crime lord on the hunt for his son, would be the obvious candidate for BigBad. However, it quickly becomes clear that his mother is every bit as dangerous and as big a threat as he is.

* BigBad: Cullen Crisp, a crime lord on the hunt for his son.

->''"They're six year olds. How much trouble can they be?"''

While the film was not what everybody expected thanks to deceitful trailers, it helped to type-cast Schwarzenegger as an action-movie actor, and was a box office success, grossing over $90 million on a $11m budget, good for the top-10 box office of 1990.

* TheCameo: Creator/AngelaBassett appears as a stewardess.

* ChewOutFakeOut: Arnold beats the snot out of a man who's been beating his kid. The Principal takes Arnie into her office, and he expects her to throw him out of the school. But regarding the beating, the only thing she has to say is to ask how ''good'' it felt to "hit that son of a bitch."

* GratuitousGerman: Arnie says, "Das macht mich stinksauer! Jetzt bin ich sauer!" (That makes me really pissed! Now I'm angry!) when he has to carry his sick partner (who's largely responsible for her own condition) inside.

Arnold plays Detective John Kimble, a cop trying to put away drug dealer Cullen Crisp. Hoping to locate Crisp's estranged wife and son in order to draft them as witnesses, and having no information about them except the name of the school where the son goes, Kimble goes with his partner, Phoebe O'Hara, to find them. Initially it is his partner who is supposed to teach the kindergarten children with Kimble as the muscle, but when she gets a stomach flu on the journey, Kimble has to do it.

HilarityEnsues when tough guy Arnold turns out to be completely unprepared to take on the challenge of babysitting five-year-olds. Meanwhile, Crisp gets released from prison and sets out to find his family...

While the film was not what everybody expected thanks to deceitful trailers, it helped to type-cast Arnold as an action-movie actor, and was a box office success, grossing over $90 million on a $11m budget, good for the top-10 box office of 1990.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: This term is used in regards to Kimble decking the abusive father of one of his students. The school principal isn't pleased that it happened [[NotInFrontOfTheKid in front of the young students]]... but deep down, she's glad the father finally got what's coming.

** John Kimble starts to become fiercely protective over his students. He sums it up when meeting with [[AbusiveParents a very mean parent]] -- "[[TranquilFury You hit the kid]], [[KickTheSonOfABitch I hit you.]]"

* VillainHasAPoint: Crist delivers one to Kimble at a beauty salon.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Principal Schlowski has every reason to be wary of an undercover police officer like Kimble teaching. That being said, once she realizes how much the kids love him as a teacher (especially when he demonstrates his PapaWolf tendencies by punching out an abusive parents) she becomes much more supportive despite the strange circumstances.

-->'''Kimble:''' I have a witness, too.

* FireForgedFriends: Kimble initially braces at O'Hara being put on "his case," and dismisses her attempts to put together their cover story. After a few weeks of working together, they're close enough that he accepts her wedding invitation.

--->'''O'Hara:''' (''to Kimble, the second time the kid says this'') [[DeadpanSnarker I see you covered the basics]].

* ExactWords: Principal Schlowski, frustrated at having a police officer undercover at her school for unknown purposes, wants some assurance that he at least has some teaching experience. His response of "They wouldn't have sent me otherwise," is technically true.

** The Twin Girls (in unison): "Our mom says our dad's a real sex machine."

* HateSink: Mr. Sullivan is the father of a kindergartener named Zach, whom he regularly beats along with his wife. When Detective John Kimble goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to find the son of a crime boss, he suspects Zach is the kid because of just how emotionally distraught the abuse makes him. Eventually, Kimble discovers the truth and beats Sullivan into a pulp, only stopping because his class starts watching. Even the school's principal, who was unable to do anything about the abuse, congratulates Kimble for taking him down.

* MamaBear: Principal Schlowski is in charge, and she lets Kimble know she's more than willing to blow his cover if she feels that her kids are in any danger. She also agrees with Kimble that punching the abusive dad was the right call.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Kimble delivers one to a father who has bee hitting his son. It's every bit as satisfying to watch as it sounds.

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: The ferret. Despite owning one being against California regulations, the principal lets Kimble bring it to class because the kids like it.

* ShipperOnDeck: When Kimble and O'Hara encounter Joyce and Dominic at a restaurant, O'Hara doesn't miss a beat and pretends to be Kimble's sister (despite the plan to actually have them pretend to be married). When Kimble asks her why she did that, she says "relax, the Love Doctor's in the house."

** When Kimble busts Crisp in the mall, the on-site cops don't simply take Kimble at his word that he's a detective and call in his badge to verify.

* TeamDad: Kimble becomes the stern yet protective father figure to his kindergarteners once he warms up to them.

* VillainousBreakdown: Crisp goes through this after feeling heartbroken that his son does not recognize him that causes him to bring out the [[AbusiveParent worst]] from him. He resorts to aggressively kidnapping him and holding him at gunpoint (even though he could be bluffing), while stating to Kimble in a grief stricken frustration that he's his boy, completely dropping his AffablyEvil act that he's been putting up to the point he finally sees his son in the film.

* WouldHitAGirl: While trying to escape the school with Dominic, Crisp runs into his wife. When she tries to get their son back from him, Crisp ''lets go of Dominic'' to punch her, then tries to coax the kid back claiming she'd "made him do it."

->''We're going to play a wonderful game, called; "Who is my daddy and what does he do?"''\\
[...]\\
''You tell me, who is your daddy and what does he do?''

* BigEater: Det. O'Hara. Done with extra humor as she's so small.

* BlownAcrossTheRoom

* CutHimselfShaving: One child explains his [[AbusiveParents fresh bruises]] every day by saying "I fell down." [[PapaWolf Kimble]] doesn't buy it, and beats up the child's abusive father. He even lampshades to the mother how crappy of a boilerplate excuse it is, and wonders why the parents can never seem to come up with something more plausible.

Arnold plays Detective John Kimble, a cop trying to put away drug dealer Cullen Crisp. Hoping to locate Crisp's estranged wife and son in order to draft them as witnesses, and having no information about them except the name of the school where the son goes, Kimble goes with his partner to find them. Initially it is his partner who is supposed to teach the kindergarten children with Kimble as the muscle, but when she gets a stomach flu on the journey, Kimble has to do it.

''Kindergarten Cop'' is one of Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger's earlier comedic roles, following his comedy debut in ''Film/{{Twins}}'' under director Creator/IvanReitman, who also directed this film.