This is topic Drop Dead Fred... in forum « 90's Movies at iRewind Talk.


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Posted by cindymancini (Member # 679) on :
 
One question, did anyone like this movie? I watched it last night and I still don't know what the hell that movie was all about...Phoebe, what were you thinking? [Roll Eyes]
 
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
 
Hahahaha!! How did you get through the whole thing????
 
Posted by cindymancini (Member # 679) on :
 
Barely Isis...it was just plain awful! That guy was sooo annoying! I didn't know Briget Fonda was in it...Too weird for me!
 
Posted by Mane1980 (Member # 4240) on :
 
I saw it long time ago! Weird and a little boring. The guy that did Fred was Bad.
 
Posted by annier (Member # 3305) on :
 
I have to disagree. That film cracks me up. Rik Mayall who plays Fred is painfully funny. Anyone else british agree ? It must be our sense of humour.

Annier
 
Posted by NOMS is the word... (Member # 2688) on :
 
Yup, must be a brit thing as I love this movie.

Rik Mayall = Comic genius

Noms [Cool]
 
Posted by MotleyRulz (Member # 3598) on :
 
Rik Mayall was great in it I thought. It's Phoebe Cates that made the movie awful...
 
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
 
Oh man....Bluck....he was HORRIBLE! I wanted to strangle him. I couldn't take it...I totally remember that movie, cause we were in Florida at Disney, and my brother in law and his wife watched it in their room, and they said they loved it, and I told them they were nuts...cause it was so bad. I think it should be in the top 10 ultimately bad movies I have ever seen.

Gosh...that movie I saw previewed tonight call "Date Movie"...it looks the same way to me, it looks horrible.
 
Posted by Spooka Lupa (Member # 2700) on :
 
Ha! Date Movie looks funny, but I'm probably biased because I like Alyson Hannigan.

Drop Dead Fred was okay, I have it on DVD but I don't watch it often. Even for someone with my annoying movie character tolerance level he got kind of annoying sometimes. Yay for the Carrie Fisher role though.

(Another tidbit for the people who follow my Big Wolf on Campus tidbits: The most popular episode was Imaginary Fiend, a parody of Drop Dead Fred that was a million times better than the movie. And, as it turns out, it didn't take a huge budget and an hour and a half to do the storyline either. Actually, if they'd used the plot from Big Wolf in the movie it might be kind of funny to see Fred trying to kill Pheobe Cates' character.)
 
Posted by stu1984 (Member # 3248) on :
 
It must be a British thing because as Noms says Rik Mayall = comic genius

I recommend reading his book too - awesome.

Stu [Cool]
 
Posted by Valley (Member # 1322) on :
 
You were suppose to watch this movie after the first five minutes? [Razz]

Maybe I need to finish watching it next time. [Wink]

On a serious note, this movie is a great example of how our cultural backgrounds can influence whether we think a movie is Totally Awesome or Totally Lame.
 
Posted by Earth Angel (Member # 3301) on :
 
I just read this thread with my mouth wide open and my eyes the size of tennis balls.....this is a GREAT film...GREAT I tell ya!!!! it always makes me cry at the end.

Rik Mayall is fabulous and what is more...I have always had a bit of a crush on him......Alan B'stard anyone??????
 
Posted by cindymancini (Member # 679) on :
 
Yeah, I think it could be a cultural thing. It was just a different type of humor. It's all good [Smile] !
 
Posted by MotleyRulz (Member # 3598) on :
 
I'm not British and I liked it. LOL...
 
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
 
Started Watching Drop Dead Fred for the first time ever and i'm about half way through but i've got to get off to bed as I have a fairly early start in the morning but what I've seen of it so far I have enjoyed and found it to be pretty funny in parts!

I know it tanked at the US box office and judging by the majority of comments above from our American friends it definitely seems like one that appeals more to a European audience!

Anyone else out there got any thoughts on this one?

[ 22. August 2016, 16:55: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
 
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
 
I think that if you are a fan of British humor, Drop Dead Fred is very funny for the most part. It got terrible reviews when it was released in the U.S. because no one here "got" Rik Mayall's style of humor. Not at all. I think that it's one of those comedies that is love or hate, no in-between. For example, I do not think that Wet Hot American Summer is really funny at all, and that's an American comedy that everyone loves. Sure it has some funny scenes, but if you ignore the goodwill that the film engenders with its cast and scenes like the classic "going into town," you'll notice that it has a lot of talented people doing lots of flat dialogue with the wrong comedic timing. Drop Dead Fred is a better film.

Humor is one of the most subjective things around. Much like who one finds attractive (or whether you like sushi or not), it can totally mystify others.

[ 22. August 2016, 20:46: Message edited by: Crash ]
 
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
 
I can understand that not everyone gets Mayall´s humour but i was raised with The Young Ones and Comic Strip so i was familiar with it.

It must have shocked most americans [Big Grin]

However, while Drop Dead Fred is a pretty fun film and includes goddess Cates, it´s not a movie i like to watch again and again.
 
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
 
Dead on, my friend. I grew up on those, and later saw Bottom, the classic of Mayall/Edmondson humor.

Ricky Gervais and others have tried to describe the differences between UK and US humor. I'm not sure that you can exactly. But you can definitely see when a US film or show incorporates UK humor. A good example would be the news reporter battle behind the warehouse in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Initially, it's very funny as "grounded" American humor with things like the Public Television reporter's showing up with what appear to be unpaid college interns as his technical crew. Then it escalates ("That escalated quickly." LOL) to Monty Python-style surreal humor when the battle gets going, and Steve Carrell kills a man using a trident, of all things. Hilarious.

It's pretty hard for me to think of a reverse example, where a UK show incorporates US humor, but I did see a couple of episodes of the Danish sitcom "Klovn," which is, in essence, the US "awkward/embarassment humor" of Curb Your Enthusiasm. It's pretty funny too, proving that some types of humor do transcend cultures and language barriers.
 
Posted by Pyro (Member # 7658) on :
 
When I first saw this movie as a youngin', I liked it. I think this movie was geared toward the younger audiences anyway, even though it does drop a few naughty words, but that was kind of the norm back then. I haven't watched this in a long time, but I have a strong feeling I wouldn't have the same enjoyment watching now as I did back then. As with most screwball comedies, I think I have just finally outgrown them now. Sad really, I never wanted to grow tired of these kinds of movies. But, I guess it just happens one day.

I'm reminded of another very similar movie that came out a couple years earlier called Young Einstein that I liked a lot as a youngster as well. The main actor in that one did almost the same style of physical comedy that Mayall did in Drop Dead Fred, only a little better IMO. Did anyone see that one?

[ 18. September 2016, 14:17: Message edited by: Pyro ]
 


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