The idea of people jumping into films is hardly new, but this treatment is pretty inventive by the standards of the genre, and allows Arnold Schwarzenegger to play another amusing variant on his own image: no small achievement considering his limited range.

Wide-eyed Austin O'Brien is the sub-teen film freak given a magic ticket (invented by Houdini! ) for a preview of the latest adventure of his favourite film character Jack Slater.

No sooner have the first scenes unspooled than the kid finds himself catapulted into the film. Slater is baffled the boy knows so much about him - not to mention his prior knowledge of the plot, which has the villains Charles Dance and Anthony Quinn taking control of the LA underworld.

Later, the movie neatly reverses everything when Slater comes back to real life in pursuit of his fictional enemies, and is puzzled to find he's no longer invincible.

The star pokes fun at himself - Slater can't remember the name of the actor who plays him and introduces himself as Arnold Braunschweiger - and some 'real life' stars contribute cameos, including Schwarzenegger himself, being nagged by his wife for relentlessly plugging his own chain of restaurants.