bkoganbing That National Lampoon put their name to this mess speaks volumes about those folks. National Lampoon's Movie Madness is one witless and unfunny film with most of the cast looking around wondering how they got into this mess and will their paychecks clear? Bad agents I assume.Three genres of film are dealt with in three short films that are allegedly satirical. The first is a soap opera with husband and wife Peter Riegert and Candy Clark seeking to explore different dimensions of themselves. Woody Allen does this a whole lot better and this shows that you can't spoof a spoof.The second stars Ann Dusenberry and it's a takeoff on those rise in business films that Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck did so well. Dusenberry was a stag party dancer who was disgraced by some dairy industry executives and she vows to bring them all down with, wait for it, margarine. It seems slightly above the other two in quality.Finally there's one pained looking Richard Widmark breaking in a new partner, the ultimate in idealistic rookies in Robby Benson. Widmark looked like he was about to pass a kidney stone and Benson either has no flair for satire/comedy or he got lousy direction. Nothing remotely funny in this police story.Skip this one by.
Nick Robinson I wish there was a way to give a movie a negative number on the IMDb scale. This thing started bad and built to a crescendo of bad so immense Robby Benson has deservedly never been heard from again. I can't believe that NL would attach their name to this but after seeing some "Making of..." features about Animal House and Caddyshack I can only conclude that there were drugs involved. Lots and lots of drugs. Originally written with four parts, I can only imagine in my worst nightmares how bad the fourth part must have been to have wound up on the cutting room floor.It isn't just bad acting and writing, it is a symphony of really bad ideas, thrown into a blender of unfunny gags, double-entendre that didn't work, obscure humor that seems like a spoof of a spoof. Well, two negatives definitely don't make a positive other than, I am positive I would rather have my doctor use a rusty implement during my next colonoscomy than to have to sit through this again. Don't think of this as a review as much as a a dire warning of impending doom if you choose to watch this thing.
arcticcarrot I was not expecting much from this film, maybe a few laughs. I was happily surprised. It's a bit of stream-of-consciousness. The writers allowed their characters to go off wherever they wanted to go, which is refreshing. Even if it meant having a young daughter go off on a fire truck and never be seen again. The middle story, about the margarine is actually quite funny. Yes, there are some over-used gags, like using the theme to Jaws. But really, the movie does have its own feel, its own way, and I enjoyed most of it. The cop story goes on a bit long, but Christopher Lloyd is funny, and there is a very stupid line that made me laugh; it was something like, "When I woke up I looked around for my dog to smack it, because I like to smack my dog when I wake up, and he got upset and went into the bathroom and filled my syringe with Ajax." Anyway, I laughed out loud quite a few times. Relax, enjoy the film for what it is. And enjoy the cameos.
Mike Wow. I read about this movie and it sounded so awful that I had to see it, and my gosh, I can smell it in St Louis. Where do I start? National Lampoons was trying to follow up 5 years later on the success of Animal House, but they completely missed the mark. I'll go chronologically with these short flicks.Short Film #1 Poor Peter Riegert (Boon from Animal House). Apparently, he wasn't working back then, so the boys at National Lampoons probably called and said "hey, we're making a c**ppy movie, wanna be in it?" Peter was like "well, I'm not doing much these days, why not?" He was a great side character in Animal House, but he couldn't carry this sorry short flop for 5 minutes.POSSIBLE SPOILER The premise is funny enough, with Jason Cooper (Riegert) telling his wife to leave him, she needs to find herself. It's too weird that they're actually in a happy marriage. So he chases her off, there she goes, and Cooper is in charge of the kids. This, off course, leads to him burning the house down, losing several of the kids, and sleeping with an assortment of New York bimbos (including an ever so young Diane Lane). Then the wife comes back, wants the kids, and the film ends with a coin flip that'll decide the fate of the children. The idea was actually somewhat clever, but the director stunk. The characters all seem like they're falling asleep, they HAD to be doped up. Sorry Boon, your legacy was tarnished with this flop.Short Film #2 MORE SPOILERS Enter Dominique Corsaire. Pretty girl, recently finished college, not sure what to do with her life. So she becomes a slut, starts sleeping around with some mega rich guys, takes their money when they die, and she doesn't stop until she beds the most powerful man in the world, Fred Willard (Ooops, I mean the president of the United States). Once again, it could have been funny, and though I was happy that Corsaire (Ann Dusenberry in real life) wasn't afraid to bare all, her acting was horrible. What a waste of time.Short Film #3 I can't believe I made it this far. Here's the rookie cop Brent Falcone (Robby Benson) with veteran Stan Nagurski (Richard Widmark). Falcone is young, naive, thinks he can really help people, though he becomes cynical after being shot several thousand times. Nagurski, really, has just given up caring. He watches muggings, assaults, you name it, and never intervenes. He figures the world is lawless and he'll probably get sued if he does anything. Even Christopher Lloyd (at the end of Taxi's run) gets in on the action, getting the police called on him, committing a crime, but having his lawyer there to protect him. God bless America!!Once again, could have been funny, the performances were intentionally campy, but goodness, no energy whatsoever. Henry Jaglom and Bob Giraldi should be ashamed of having their names on this schlock. I think the writing wasn't bad, the ideas were there, but the execution was pulled off as well as the rescue attempt in the Iranian hostage crisis. If I had been a part of this film, I would want my name removed, it's horrible. Then again, that's why I watched it.The only good thing about this garbage is that Dr John did the film score (repeating "Going to the Movies" over and over again) and the film isn't much longer than an hour and a half. Show this one in film classes with the heading "what you should NEVER do in film-making." This script should have been left on the shelf because yep, it's that bad.
