It’s been a while since Pee-wee Herman and his trademark laugh were seen on a screen big or small. But he makes his triumphant return to the movies in Netflix’s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, in which he’ll be taking a trip to New York City.
Along the way, Pee-wee encounters female bank robbers, ends up in the woods with an Amish family, finds a snake farm, and gets picked up by a hair salon on wheels. That and so much more is in the first trailer released on Tuesday.
Has it really been more than 30 years since Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, when he hitchhiked to Texas, all for a stolen red bike? This time, he’s inspired a stranger that he meets, who happens to live in New York City, played by Joe Manganiello. (It’s like Richie is passing on the lessons that he learned from Magic Mike to Pee-wee.)
Manganiello is good friends with Paul Reubens, who created Pee-wee, and reportedly passed on a role in this summer’s Suicide Squad for this project. The story is supposed to play off the difference in size between Reubens and Manganiello.
“You want to not like (Manganiello) in a certain way. He’s like pretty close to being perfect,” Reubens told USA Today. “But he and his wife (Sofia Vergara) together are the dorkiest, nerdiest people. It’s just hilarious. People don’t get to see that side of him.”
Director John Lee says there won’t be much of a plot to the film. “It always seems best when Pee-wee has very little plot — his movies probably have the least plot in the history of cinema,” Lee explained to reporter Bryan Alexander. “Why not embrace that?”
Pee-wee’s Big Holiday will be available on Netflix March 18, shortly after making its world premiere at SXSW next month. The film will also have a limited release in theaters.
Netflix is giving its subscribers plenty of choices on Pee-wee’s release day, as season two of Daredevil will also premiere on March 18. Will Pee-wee be overshadowed by Daredevil? Or could Pee-wee take down Daredevil and The Punisher? That could be an enjoyable weekend.