George Clooney Made His Movie Debut In A Sequel To A Jaws Rip-Off

George Clooney is one of the most beloved and successful actors in the world, which only makes it that much more surprising to learn his first-ever movie was a total disaster. "Grizzy II: Revenge" was a horror thriller about a grizzly bear who goes on a deadly rampage. However, despite being shot in 1983, the film was put on the shelf since it was unable to finish some of its special effects due to a lack of funding. But while it was initially expected to only be delayed by a few years, the "Grizzly" sequel wound up being postponed for four decades, eventually being released to the public in 2021.

You might think Clooney would be excited for his intended-debut film to finally release, but the actor reacted to the news more with lighthearted dread. "I haven't seen it — and I don't know that I want to," Clooney told The Sun in 2021. "It was a bad time for hair and clothes."

Clooney's character in the film does indeed sport a mullet and a denim vest. He looks very stereotypically 1980s; a far cry from the suave, well-dressed sort of man we're used to him playing. It doesn't help that the rest of "Grizzly II" isn't great either. In fact, '80s nostalgia didn't help the movie at all when it came to its critical reception. "It's not even 'so bad it's good,'" wrote Dennis Harvey for Variety, "It's just a half-assembled collection of parts that will never be whole."

The movie was so bad, in fact, that Clooney compared it unfavorably to the most widely-panned film of his career. "I have a sense I have found something that's worse than 'Batman & Robin,'" he noted.

Part of why the reception to "Grizzly II" veered so negatively was the false advertising. Despite heavily featuring George Clooney, Laura Dern, and Charlie Sheen in its promotional material, the film doesn't actually feature these actors in any significant capacity. Clooney himself is only in the movie for a couple of minutes, so it feels dishonest to put his name front and center. Sure, they're huge names now, but in 1983, they were more likely to be cast as redshirts than as leads. But 40 years later, these three are now easily the biggest players associated with the movie, so it makes sense that its marketing team would want to cash in on that. 

The other reason "Grizzly II" flopped so hard is because, much like the original "Grizzly" movie, it's clear it only exists to cash in on the success of "Jaws." The movie features a dangerous animal on a rampage and an authority figure that doesn't care about stopping it. What it doesn't feature is the charm and competence that made "Jaws" so successful. And let's be real: sharks are more cinematic than bears, so this sort of premise was never going to outdo the original. There are plenty of better "Jaws" knock-offs to choose from. 

Really, if you want to see a bear rampage movie that delivers on its marketing, you'd be better off checking out the Elizabeth Banks-directed "Cocaine Bear." That 2023 horror-comedy was hardly some high-art masterpiece either, but at least it didn't lie in the marketing about how much its actors were in the movie. When it comes to the concept of "'Jaws' but with a bear," it was Banks who actually nailed it. I mean, just look at this delightful nonsense: