I've just read a review of the extended cut which opines that it's nice seeing Elwood without his sunglasses at the start of the film. No it is not. The brothers wearing impenetrable shades throughout the film is a good gag, it adds to the sense of them being otherworldly cartoon characters at a deadpan remove from reality.
Seeing Elwood without his shades at the start of the film also ruins the bit later on when Jake removes his to manipulate Carrie Fisher into forgiving him. When you first watch the film, it's a 'shocking' moment. Totally unexpected. They have eyes! Plus it's a set-up for a gag.
A shadesless Elwood working in a glue factory makes him look like an ordinary person, although I suppose it's quite funny that he's still wearing his black porkpie hat.
I think it also undermines the only moment of pathos in the film, when you see how awful Elwood's living conditions are. Up until that scene they've been presented as comical cool dudes, but suddenly we find out just how shit their lives actually are. An unexpected jolt of grim reality. It arrives at just the right point in the narrative, it tells you all you need to know before the knockabout mayhem continues. It doesn't really work if you've already seen Elwood as a blue collar Joe scraping by on a minimum wage.
tl;dr? Yes, I am slightly obsessed with this film.
