As mentioned over on The Woman In Red thread, there are some movies that came out in the 80's with high expectations and even higher promotion but just couldn't cut the mustard...what are some titles you think missed their mark and were just dismal & unfunny bombs?
The Woman In Red is a great place to start.
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
How about any comedy that was a Canadian tax shelter production:
Gas (1981)--Donald Sutherland and Howie Mandel
Dirty Tricks (1981)--Elliott Gould and Kate Jackson
Hog Wild (1980)--Michael Biehn and Patty D'Arbanville
Nothing Personal (1980)--Donald Sutherland and Suzanne Somers
These are by far some of the lamest "comedies" to come out of the 80s and make "The Woman in Red" seem like "This is Spinal Tap." Posted by P_a_u_l (Member # 1022) on :
Certainly wouldn't count The Woman In Red as a failed comedy. It may not have gathered as many belly-laughs as it aimed for, but very few comedy movies ever do.
There were far worse comedies in the 80s, IMO.
Take Leonard, Part 6.
Please.
Take it......
Posted by Leo Logan (Member # 9206) on :
Stroker Ace (1983) - Burt Reynolds, Loni Anderson, Ned Beatty, Jim Nabors, Parker Stevenson
Best Defense (1984) - Dudley Moore, Eddie Murphy, Kate Capshaw
Caddyshack II (1988) - Jackie Mason, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd
Switching Channels (1988) - Burt Reynolds, Kathleen Turner, Christopher Reeve
Harlem Nights (1989) - Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor
Posted by cindymancini (Member # 679) on :
Ooh I fear this may open some cans o' worms! Remember this is all a matter of opinion. No one take it personally !
Paul, you made me laugh with your Len Part 6 comment!
Leo, get ready to defend that Caddyshack II pick with Devo. He loves it!
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
Good heavens, these are some horrible comedies. I've seen them but have truly blocked them all out of my mind. Burt Reynolds made some bad films but "Stroker Ace" is really lousy. And even Bill Cosby disowned "Leonard, Part 6." Query: How can you take sure-fire material like "The Front Page" and remake it into "Switching Channels"? Answer: Have three leads who are just absolutely terrible at comedy. I like Reynolds, Turner, and Reeve, but whoever thought that casting them in that film was a good idea was really out of it.
Posted by The Good Package (Member # 9492) on :
hold the phone there leo
caddy 2 is great and so is harlem nights, cant count how many great quotes in each
Posted by The Good Package (Member # 9492) on :
my stepmother is an alien is good example of this, and who would of thought that with a combo of aykroyd and basinger you could go wrong.
before anybody says diffrent, couch trip and doctor detriot were great too.
Posted by The Good Package (Member # 9492) on :
out of curiosity though
i wonder why harlem always gets so many negative reviews, i really like it and dont see where it goes wrong
what do you guys think?
Posted by Chris the CandyFanMan (Member # 3197) on :
Some obvious examples:
-Going Berserk; it's a VERY rare Candy film that doesn't do anything for me at all, but apart from a few moments here and there (Kung Fu U. and the running gag with the dead guy most notably) the project falls flat (Candy had signed up for an earlier, better draft entitled Drums Over Malta, and was just as bitterly frustrated as the viewers were that it was then extensively rewritten without his input)
-Modern Problems; again, a few occasional signs of life, but when you save your best bit for the opening credits--and Chevy's car problems driving home from work are easily the best jokes in the picture--you know you're in trouble. Double thumbs down for the fact they almost killed Chevy by rigging him with faulty lights during the dream sequence where he thinks he's a plane that almost electrocuted him
-technically, you can also include just about everything else Chevy did between Caddyshack and the first Vacation film, as Under the Rainbow and Deal of the Century fall flat, the former also coming off rather uglily ethnically insensitive for modern times
-throw in a vote for Best Defense here too; maybe if they'd just been honest about Eddie simply having a cameo, they could have gotten away with more, but trying to maniuplate what was a rather weak premise anyway to look like an Eddie picture is not only inherently a lie but gives them the image of trying to manipulate and profit off him
-Smokey and the Bandit 3; what was the point without Burt, really? Especially when the chase comedy subgenre that the original still stands out as a shining example of today was pretty much dead at that point (but would hit its nadir with one of the few other unwatchable Candys, Speed Zone)
-and let's not forget the very first unwatchable Sandler film, Going Overboard, which technically has no coherent plot to speak of at all--something with Noriega getting the film's negative then breaking the 4th wall with it, I don't know--and perhaps not a single actual thing resembling a joke in its entire length despite having something to do with Sandler wanting to be a cruise ship comedian, I think.
Posted by Leo Logan (Member # 9206) on :
Rhinestone (1984) - Sylvester Stallone, Dolly Parton
City Heat (1984) - Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds
Club Paradise (1986) - Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, Rick Moranis
From the Hip (1987) - Judd Nelson, Elizabeth Perkins, John Hurt
Hot to Trot (1988) - Bobcat Goldthwait, Dabney Coleman, Virginia Madsen
Sunset (1988) - Bruce Willis, James Garner, Mariel Hemingway, Malcolm McDowell, Kathleen Quinlan
She's Out of Control (1989) - Tony Danza, Ami Dolenz, Catherine Hicks
Posted by fjordimere (Member # 10024) on :
Teen Wolf Too (1987) Strange Brew (1987)
Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
I am gonna have to jump on the Caddyshack 2 defence bandwagon. It's pathetic I know but it is highly quotable and still a very funny movie. It just gets a bad rap cos it's called Caddyshack 2 and does not seem on par or is not a continuation of the first one. If it was called something else...like "Let's Go Another 18" it wouldn't have copped anywhere near as much flack.
Great performances from Robert Stack and Randy Quaid too.
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