Comedy films of 1990

[notjosh]

Was getting bored of trying to pick out new films to watch, so thought I'd give myself a project and investigate the changing comic style of (primarily) Hollywood comedy films over the last 30 years or so - beginning in 1990.

Initially planned to just watch the biggest hits of each year, but after watching a few I realised it's really fun to check out the forgotten films and mid-level schlock of an era - you learn a lot more, and get a few surprises too.

So I'm just hanging out in 1990 for a while, and I thought it might be fun to post some of my thoughts on the films here, and for others to discuss whatever they like (pertaining to comedy films within this particular calendar year). Or maybe I will lose interest in this whole project by next week, who knows. But for now...


Vanilla Ice was riding high in the charts, the Hubble Telescope was riding high in the cosmos, and the UK exported over a hundred thousand tonnes of skimmed milk powder, compared to Denmark's meagre 33 thousand ^[1]...

BUT WHAT WERE WE LAUGHING AT... IN

?

Top 10 grossing comedy films:
Home Alone ($476,684,675)
Pretty Woman ($463,406,268)
Kindergarten Cop ($201,957,688)
Another 48 Hrs ($153,518,974)
Three Men and a Little Lady ($138,339,411)
Problem Child ($72,270,895)
Look Who's Talking Too ($47,789,074)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch ($41,476,097)
Joe Versus the Volcano ($39,404,261)
Mermaids ($35,372,000)

All 1990 comedy films listed on Wikipedia:

Spoiler alert

Title	Director	Cast	Production country	Genre
Air America	Roger Spottiswoode	Mel Gibson, Robert Downey Jr., Nancy Travis	United States	Action comedy
Alice	Woody Allen	Mia Farrow, Joe Mantegna, Alec Baldwin	United States	Comedy drama
All for the Winner	Jeffrey Lau, Corey Yuen	Stephen Chow, Cheung Man, Chow Yun-Fat	Hong Kong
Another 48 Hrs.	Walter Hill	Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, Brion James	United States	Action comedy
Arachnophobia	Frank Marshall	Jeff Daniels, Harley Jane Kozak, John Goodman	United States	Horror comedy
Back to the Future Part III	Robert Zemeckis	Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen	United States	Science fiction comedy
Basket Case 2	Frank Henenlotter	Kevin Van Hentenryck, Annie Ross, Kathryn Meisle	United States	Horror comedy
Bird on a Wire	John Badham	Mel Gibson, Goldie Hawn, David Carradine	United States	Action comedy
Cadillac Man	Roger Donaldson	Robin Williams, Tim Robbins, Pamela Reed	United States
Coupe de Ville	Joe Roth	Patrick Dempsey, Arye Gross, Daniel Stern	United States
Cry-Baby	John Waters	Johnny Depp, Amy Locane, Susan Tyrrell	United States
Dick Tracy	Warren Beatty	Warren Beatty, Charlie Korsmo, Glenne Headly	United States
Ernest Goes to Jail	John Cherry	Jim Varney, Gailard Sartain, Bill Byrge	United States
Far Out Man	Tommy Chong	Tommy Chong, Shelby Chong, Paris Chong	United States
Flashback	Franco Amurri	Dennis Hopper, Kiefer Sutherland, Carol Kane	United States	Comedy drama
Frankenhooker	Frank Henenlotter	Patty Mullen, Charlotte Helmkamp, Shirley Stoler	United States
The Freshman	Andrew Bergman	Matthew Broderick, Marlon Brando, Bruno Kirby	United States
Ghost Dad	Sidney Poitier	Bill Cosby, Kimberly Russell, Denise Nicholas	United States
Green Card	Peter Weir	Gérard Depardieu, Andie MacDowell, Bebe Neuwirth	United States
Gremlins 2: The New Batch	Joe Dante	Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, John Glover	United States
The Hairdresser's Husband	Patrice Leconte	Jean Rochefort, Anna Galiena, Henry Hocking	France
Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces	Ferid Boughedir	Mustafa Adouani, Rabia Ben Abdallah	Tunisia France
Home Alone	Chris Columbus	Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern	United States
House Party	Reginald Hudlin	Christopher Reid, Robin Harris, Christopher Martin	United States
I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle	Dirk Campbell	Neil Morrissey, Michael Elphick, Anthony Daniels	United Kingdom	Horror comedy
I Hired a Contract Killer	Aki Kaurismäki	Jean-Pierre Léaud, Margi Clarke, Kenneth Colley	Finland Sweden
I Love You to Death	Lawrence Kasdan	Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, Joan Plowright	United States
In the Spirit	Sandra Seacat	Elaine May, Marlo Thomas, Jeannie Berlin	United States
Joe Versus the Volcano	John Patrick Shanley	Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Lloyd Bridges	United States
Kindergarten Cop	Ivan Reitman	Arnold Schwarzenegger, Penelope Ann Miller, Pamela Reed	United States
Life Is Sweet	Mike Leigh	Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall	United Kingdom	Comedy drama
Look Who's Talking Too	Amy Heckerling	John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Olympia Dukakis	United States
Loose Cannons	Bob Clark	Gene Hackman, Dan Aykroyd, Dom DeLuise	United States
A Man Called Sarge	Stuart Gillard	Gary Kroeger, Marc Singer, Jennifer Runyon	United States
May Fools	Louis Malle	Michel Piccoli, Miou-Miou, Michel Duchaussoy	France
Men at Work	Emilio Estevez	Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Leslie Hope	United States
Mermaids	Richard Benjamin	Cher, Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder	United States	Comedy drama
Metropolitan	Whit Stillman	Edward Clements, Allison Rutledge-Parisi, Dylan Hundley	United States	Comedy drama
Movie... In Your Face	Tommy Sledge		Hong Kong United States
Mr. Destiny	James Orr	Michael Caine, James Belushi, Linda Hamilton	United States
My Blue Heaven	Herbert Ross	Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Joan Cusack	United States
My New Partner II	Claude Zidi	Philippe Noiret, Thierry Lhermitte, Guy Marchand	France
The Nasty Girl	Michael Verhoeven	Lena Stolze, Monika Baumgartner, Fred Stillkrauth	West Germany	Comedy drama
Ninja Academy	Nico Mastorakis	Will Egan, Kelly Randall, Gerald Okamura	United States
Nuns on the Run	Jonathan Lynn	Eric Idle, Robbie Coltrane, Camille Coduri	United Kingdom
Opportunity Knocks	Donald Petrie	Dana Carvey, Robert Loggia, Todd Graff	United States
Postcards from the Edge	Mike Nichols	Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Quaid	United States	Comedy drama
Pretty Woman	Garry Marshall	Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Ralph Bellamy	United States
Problem Child	Dennis Dugan	John Ritter, Michael Oliver, Amy Yasbeck	United States
The Rainbow Thief	Alejandro Jodorowsky	Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Christopher Lee	United Kingdom	Comedy drama
Repossessed	Bob Logan	Linda Blair, Leslie Nielsen, Anthony Starke	United States
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead	Tom Stoppard	Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss	United Kingdom
Quick Change	Howard Franklin, Bill Murray	Bill Murray, Geena Davis, Randy Quaid	United States
A Shock to the System	Jan Egleson	Michael Caine, Elizabeth McGovern, Peter Riegert	United States	Comedy-drama
Short Time	Gregg Champion	Dabney Coleman, Matt Frewer, Teri Garr	United States
Spaced Invaders	Patrick Read Johnson	Royal Dano, Ariana Richards, J.J. Anderson	United States
The Spirit of '76	Lucas Reiner	David Cassidy, Olivia D'Abo, Geoff Hoyle	United States
Taking Care of Business	Arthur Hiller	James Belushi, Charles Grodin, Anne de Salvo	United States
Tatie Danielle	Etienne Chatiliez	Tsila Chelton, Catherine Jacob, Isabelle Nanty	France
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Steven Barron	Judith Hoag, Elias Koteas, Josh Pais	United States	Action comedy
Three Men and a Little Lady	Emile Ardolino	Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, Ted Danson	United States
Tremors	Ron Underwood	Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter	United States
Trust	Hal Hartley	Adrienne Shelly, Martin Donovan, Merritt Nelson	United States	Comedy drama
Tune in Tomorrow	Jon Amiel	Peter Falk, Keanu Reeves, Barbara Hershey	United States
Uranus	Claude Berri	Philippe Noiret, Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Pierre Marielle	France
Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael	Jim Abrahams	Winona Ryder, Jeff Daniels, Laila Robins	United States
Where the Heart Is	John Boorman	Dabney Coleman, Uma Thurman, Joanna Cassidy	United States
Why Me?	Gene Quintano	Christopher Lambert, Christopher Lloyd, Kim Greist	United States
Wild at Heart	David Lynch	Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd	United States	Black comedy

[close]

THOUGHTS TO (SPORADICALLY) FOLLOW

_{¹ https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1991-06-03/debates/6568498d-e2e9-41c1-ac2d-356dffe8ee2c/MilkAndDairyProductsEuropeanimportAndExportData}

[notjosh]

PROBLEM CHILD (1990)
dir. Dennis Dugan
wrt. Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski
loc mgr. Ward Emling

I went into this knowing next to nothing about it, so was blissfully unaware of its calamitous ZERO PERCENT rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But GUESS WHAT... those tomatoes don't know what the fuck they're talking about, cos it's an absolute laugh riot. (Also they're the wrong colour, if anything green is under-ripe).

It's about an absolute nightmare of a kid that is dumped on a doorstep as a baby, and keeps fucking shit up and getting dropped off at a series of increasingly run-down establishments until finally (his wicker basket now several sizes too small for him) he is left at an orphanage run by hideous nuns, where he wreaks merry havoc until unscrupulous adoption agent Gilbert Gottfried hatches a plan to palm him off on dopey wannabe dad John Ritter and his glamorous wife who is fed up of not getting invited to their neighbour's children's parties.

The rest of the move is about him ruining the lives of his new parents and everyone around him while John Ritter - at his most John Rittest - tries his best to see the good in him and change his behaviour through love and positive reinforcement. Meanwhile this problem kid is stealing cars, setting fire to stuff, putting bangers in birthday cakes, bashing in skulls at the little league baseball, and tricking people into getting attacked by bears, ETC ETC. He's a proper nutcase and Kevin McCallister would shit himself if he ever met him.

Anyway, I thought it was really funny. A great dark satire on parenting, completely tasteless, absolutely everything turned up to 11, and a brilliant cast. Michael Richards plays a serial murderer called 'the bowtie killer' who becomes the problem kid's hero. Jack Warden is great as the Trumpesque grandfather, who is running for governor but has absolute contempt for the voters. Amy Yasbeck, whoever she is, is very funny as the mother, who at one point ends up having it away with Michael Richards on the kitchen floor while John Ritter listens on in a state of catatonic shock in the next room.

It's big, colourful and stupid, while still being fairly intelligent in its visual economy and use of comic motifs to advance the story ^[1], rattles through the plot in 80 minutes and manages to be pretty dark while still anchored by a lovely performance from lovely John Ritter.

Verdict:
YOUR HONOR... let the record show that I have NO PROBLEM with this child.


_{^[1] Example... when Michael Richards breaks out of prison by impersonating the psychiatrist sent to test him, it cuts from him strangling him to a close up of a reg plate that reads "PRZN DOC". We then crane up to see Richards inside the car, unconvincingly dressed as the shrink. The guard immediately waves him through - why wouldn't he? the plate is his ID - and the whole incident is done in about 3 seconds. I feel like a lot of directors nowadays would turn this into an awkward extended dialogue scene, but in this movie it's played like a Chuck Jones cartoon with a stupid but effective visual shorthand.}

[Norton Canes]

Nuns on the Run, eh. That reminds me, I was always planning to do a Handmade Films watch-a-thon. Got as far as Time Bandits.

[monkfromhavana]

Interesting, cos  I can think of tons of good 80s comedies, but the 90s?? Seems like a wasteland to me. What is that film from 1990 (I think) with Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd. Truly a terrible, terrible film.

[phantom_power]

I question some of those films being classed as comedies. Dick Tracy? Wild at Heart? Another 48 Hours? (boom, rule of three)

I think there is a distinction between a comedy, or even a horror/comedy or action/comedy, and a film that has some humour in it

Quick Change is a corker though, and My Blue Heaven

[SteveDave]

"My Blue Heaven" is the sequel to "Goodfellas" but it was released a month earlier.

[phantom_power]

I see it as more a different branch of the multiverse

[Small Man Big Horse]

I think this is a great idea for a project, and am very tempted to revisit quite a few movies there. Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael was the first film I ever travelled all the way to London to see in an indie cinema, and I liked it at the time because I was a sixteen year old boy in love with Winona Ryder, but I'm definitely going to rewatch it again soon to see how I find it now.

The only two on the list I've watched within the last couple of years is Cry Baby (Pretty great, but not Waters at his very best) and Gremlins 2 (One of my all time favourites), and while I may well be wrong about Cry Baby if I ever met anyone who didn't like Gremlins 2 I'm afraid I'd have to tut loudly. Like really fucking loudly.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I think this is a great idea for a project, and am very tempted to revisit quite a few movies there. Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael was the first film I ever travelled all the way to London to see in an indie cinema, and I liked it at the time because I was a sixteen year old boy in love with Winona Ryder, but I'm definitely going to rewatch it again soon to see how I find it now.

Tempted by this now. Not because I'm 16 but I watched Heathers a while back and thought it was ace.

[LordMorgan]

I loved heathers back in the day also

Was so excited to watch it again with my partner
She had never seen it, she was born in 1988, thinks 80s films are just too old

However convinced her to watch it and she was not impressed. I wasn't as impressed either , not sure it was down to her lacklustre response in watching it

Christian Slaters JD, still a bloody h great tho I thought

Total psycho , and I loved him never taking any shit from the bullies.
Funny interactions with his father too which isn't fully explained.
Their patter and conversation is flipped.

Anyhoos. Worth a rewatch, but maybe not as good as you may have remembered it

[notjosh]

PRETTY WOMAN (1990)
dir. Garry Marshall
wrt. J. F. Lawton
bst boy. Keith Orefice

Probably second or third time around for this one, so I pretty much knew what to expect. One of the big questions was: would I be able to enjoy it without the WOKERATI tearing it down with their "Toxic Takeaways - Pretty Woman's Ugly Lessons" videos and suchlike? Well I watched their so-called video right after the film, and guess what... I only agreed with 80-85% of it, so you can pop the rest of your toxic takeaways in the fridge and reheat them tomorrow... KAPICHE?

Actually in the whole I think it still works pretty well, despite the dubious set-up, largely on the basis of Julia Roberts' natural screen presence. The main issue is that it's built on a tension between 'down on her luck sex worker' and 'funny, classy, intelligent lady' that is completely false and borderline insulting. We're constantly supposed to be surprised at Roberts' basic humanity, and impressed when she shows an adeptness at navigating the world of the upper class. We're expected to duplicate Richard Gere's admiring gaze when she sheds tears at her first opera: saaay, this dame has REAL CLASS.

But even within that problematic construct there's a lot to like. Small bits of physical comedy like the pretty woman losing the snails in the posh restaurant, or the HYOOGE MISTAKE fist-pump moment in the snooty shop, are all still charming. And, it's a low bar, but her attempts to make Gere into slightly less of a cunt are still compelling at times.

Visually, Garry Marshall handles it like an old pro. It's very well designed in terms of visual motifs - like the monochrome world of Gere's office vs the lush colourful hotel suite he shares with the pretty woman. The scenes are well blocked, with Gere always static, at his desk, talking on the phone etc, while Roberts bounces impishly around him (apparently during shooting Gere was doing a bit too much and Marshall told him "there are two characters in this: one that moves and one that doesn't. Guess which you are").

Ultimately it feels like a star showcase for Roberts, with Gere's character pretty much coasting through. Though he does soften up a bit, and makes the obligatory grand gesture at the end, he never really has to sacrifice anything, but basically buys her off with his enormous wealth, and you can't help but feel that the pretty woman ends up intoxicated by the freedom and privilege that comes with having access to his credit cards.

Also I remembered Jason Alexander being in it, but I didn't remember that he literally tries to rape her. Apparently the original screenplay (titled $3000) was much darker, and there are still vestiges of this in the glimpses we get of her sex worker friend's life. Oh, and Jason Alexander's wife in this is Amy Yasbeck, the sexy mom from Problem Child.

Verdict:
PRETTY good.

[notjosh]

Interesting, cos  I can think of tons of good 80s comedies, but the 90s?? Seems like a wasteland to me. What is that film from 1990 (I think) with Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd. Truly a terrible, terrible film.

I think my immediate go-tos would be Jim Carrey, Naked Gun sequels, Austin Powers etc, plus some great teen movies and rom coms, and offbeat stuff like Office Space. Can't say I get on well with the 80s myself.

I question some of those films being classed as comedies. Dick Tracy? Wild at Heart? Another 48 Hours? (boom, rule of three)

I think there is a distinction between a comedy, or even a horror/comedy or action/comedy, and a film that has some humour in it

Yes, I'm not sure where to draw the line with some of them. One of the questions I will be pondering throughout this is WHAT IS COMEDY?

The only two on the list I've watched within the last couple of years is Cry Baby (Pretty great, but not Waters at his very best) and Gremlins 2 (One of my all time favourites), and while I may well be wrong about Cry Baby if I ever met anyone who didn't like Gremlins 2 I'm afraid I'd have to tut loudly. Like really fucking loudly.

I thoroughly endorse this policy. Joe Dante is a personal hero of mine, and in a career stuffed with hits, Gremlins 2 is comfortably his best work.

You may not have seen this... a rare interview with the Brain Gremlin that I managed to liberate from an archive a couple of years back:

[famethrowa]

PRETTY WOMAN (1990)
dir. Garry Marshall
wrt. J. F. Lawton
bst boy. Keith Orefice

Also I remembered Jason Alexander being in it

It's supposed to be a high emotional point of the movie, but I always crack up at George Costanza shouting "SHE'S A WHORE MAN, A GODDAMNED WHORE!" and getting treated to a little chin music for his troubles.

Also Rich Gere attempting some DIY psychotherapy, talking about his father and saying "I was very aaaaangryyy about that".

[Dr Rock]

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Little known movie about some idiots.

Groundhog Day (1993)

How infinity breaks and then redeems a trapped amoral fella.

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

Hard to top the original, but wins by being as bonkers as possible.

On the whole though, 90s comedies are mostly worthless schlock, eg King Ralph

[Keebleman]

Gilbert Gottfried - the only actor to appear in all the Problem Child movies - told on his podcast how John Ritter said at the end of the shoot, "Well, you know, in this business you're given opportunities and you make choices, and you hope things work out and, well, sometimes, you know, it just..."

And Scott Alexander was a guest on the podcast more than once, and he said that at the premiere, the first screening of his first film, he wept, and not out of pride.

[SteveDave]

I bloody love "Problem Child"

Conversely, I have never seen "Pretty Woman". It's one of a handful of "BIG" films I've somehow avoided along with "Rain Man", "Top Gun" and "Forrest Gump" Films that were so big that you didn't need to see them. "Silence Of The Lambs" was on that list until Serge basically made me watch it through belittling threats on Facebook.

[Glebe]

I remember going to see Gremlins 2 with a friend, lovely summer's evening, the screening was so packed we had to stand at the back but we had such a great time it didn't really matter.

How about Tremors? Saw both movies at the long-gone Carlton cinema on O' Connell Street here in Dublin (the sign is still up on the building after all these years).

[perplexingprocrastinator]

You may not have seen this... a rare interview with the Brain Gremlin that I managed to liberate from an archive a couple of years back:

DAMN but that puppet was great. The mouth articulation! That film is brilliant top to bottom. I know it marks me out as a cliched old fart but I hate CGI. For all that it's sometimes deployed artfully, 90% of it is utterly lazy and dreadful and it killed off practical effects in the blink of an eye. Puppetry is always great - even when it's dreadful, it's great! But when it's great, it's fucking great. And this puppetry is fucking great.

Anyway, super idea for a thread but nothing is going to be better than Gremlins 2

[DrGreggles]

I thought UHF was 1990, but maybe not successful enough to make the list.

EDIT: or from 1989...

[BeardFaceMan]

Have a real soft spot for House Party, for some reason that was the in-film with me and friends when it came out (on video). I'd go to bat for I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle too, in a so crap/mental it's actually worth watching kind of way (especially if you liked Boon, most of the cast seem to show up in it).

[Mr Banlon]

The Adventures of Ford Fairlaine

[curiousoranges]

It was odd that they made the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film so dark. I know that's apparently closer to the tone of the comics, but those raised on the massive cartoon hit (the only reason the film got made) weren't fully satisfied. The sequel is better.

[notjosh]

MERMAIDS (1990)
dir. Richard Benjamin
wrt. June Roberts
mrmd cstme mllner. Diane Paxton

I assumed before watching this that it would be a Splash-like whimsical comedy about mermaids. But it turns out there are no actual mermaids in it at all, just a kid who is obsessed with swimming, and a bit where Cher goes to a fancy dress party as a mermaid, which I suppose must be a metaphor for something or other, but it went over my head.

It is in fact a slightly dark, offbeat coming-of-age comedy about bidepal humans. Cher is mother to two kids, Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci, which I guess proves that they really are different people (but try telling that to my brain!). Tiny teeny Christina Ricci wants to be an olympic swimmer, and Winona Ryder is a total square who has dreams of being a nun - much to the dismay of her itinerant bohemian (and Jewish) mother Cher, who can't commit to anything and insists on moving house each time a relationship doesn't work out.

Actually, the dynamic is very Ab Fab, with Ryder's character constantly embarrassed by her mother's lifestyle and inability to make a meal beyond marshmallow kebabs (this is probably a bit on the nose to be honest, especially as it's literally explained that Cher considers cooking a full meal to be "too much commitment"). I checked when the original French & Saunders mother & daughter sketch was, and it was April 1990 - a full 6 months before this was released, but I guess they could have nicked the idea from the book.

Bob Hoskins plays a cheeky cobbler who is smitten by Cher and tries to cure her off her commitment phobia. His character is great actually, completely and charmingly unselfconscious. I liked the terrible paintings he does of women (including Cher), which fill him with joy even though he cheerfully admits he has no talent.

All the cast are great in this - Cher can be fantastic when she wants to be, Winona Ryder is really funny in an interesting variation on her Heathers 'outsider' persona, and teeny tiny Christina Ricci is somehow better than both of them just by wandering around with a pumpkin on her head.

The plot is a bit rambling and episodic, but mainly revolves around the Cher/Hoskins relationship, and Winona Ryder's fixation with a handsome local handiman which fills her with catholic guilt. I guess I should mention that her character is 15, and his is 26, and they do end up doing it, and no one seems to mind. But the film is actually set in 1963 AND was made in 1990 (which is closer to 1963 than to now, fact fans), so I guess it's "different times" twice, which must make it okay.

Obviously, cos it's 1963 there's a bit where everyone in their small town finds out that JFK is shot. It ought to be a familiar moment, but I don't remember actually seeing it in a film before, and I enjoyed thinking about what it would have meant to people back then.

Also I enjoyed the depiction of Winona Ryder's only memory of her absent father - it's black and white, and she's a tiny girl looking at this towering silhouette standing in front of a solar eclipse and trying to explain it to her. Just a small moment, but I totally felt it and it made me think how poorly most films depict 'remembered' events.

There's also some really on the nose stuff like I mentioned above, including the fact that the only picture she has of her father literally has the head missing, but I suppose I'll let it slide.

VERDICT:
A charming TAIL.

[checkoutgirl]

PRETTY WOMAN (1990)

Flip my hat, I didn't know that was a comedy.

[Armin Meiwes]

Nice! I bloody loved Mermaids when I was a kid tho not sure how much of that was 15 year old me being tight in love with Winona Ryder (think there might be a bit of a theme developing).

Also never realised it was directed by Richard Benjamin who was in the criminally ignored and hilarious Diary of a Mad Housewife.

[notjosh]

Nice! I bloody loved Mermaids when I was a kid tho not sure how much of that was 15 year old me being tight in love with Winona Ryder (think there might be a bit of a theme developing).

Also never realised it was directed by Richard Benjamin who was in the criminally ignored and hilarious Diary of a Mad Housewife.

Oh, I've just realised he's Paula Prentiss' husband, who did the sitcom He & She with her... I've been meaning to look at that for ages.

[Dex Sawash]

Only one Ernest film in 1990?
Guess I'll hav3 to watch Ernest Goes to Jail (or prison, not scrolling up to check)

[dissolute ocelot]

Films I've not seen:

Problem Child sounds amazing.

Nathan Rabin has a big thing about how great Ford Fairlane is, which I almost believe.

Films I have seen:
Joe Versus the Volcano is beloved by some but IMO the first act is brilliant but then it goes off the boil. A great portrayal of Tom Hanks in a shitty job.

Mermaids I remember being massively popular: Cher coming out of her run of great 80s movies and Winona Ryder at the peak of her fame (Edward Scissorhands was the same year and is as much of a comedy as many on those lists), plus the Shoop Shoop Song. It's fun as a coming-of-age movie but pretty disposable. Bob Hoskins though (also around his Hollywood peak).

Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael is also Winona Ryder being quirky and slightly alternative, and it's a nice film but even more disposable. More drama than comedy, she's a put-upon teen, there's a big todo about someone who used to live in her town coming home but things are not as they seem. Definitely would be straight to Netflix these days.

Tune In Tomorrow (I'm sure it has an alternative title in some markets) is lots of fun, uniting Peter Falk and Keanu Reeves as well as Barbara Hershey as the sexy older woman. One of the few mainstream American movies based on a Mario Vargas Llosa novel (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter), and directed by Jon Amiel hot from BBC TV's The Singing Detective.

Postcards from the Edge is also well worth watching, a classic movie about Hollywood.

Three Men and a Little Lady is hilarious for its section set in Hollywood's idea of England. In other respects it's not terribly good, although I don't think there are any ghosts. (From memory the plot is they go to England for some reason with hilarious consequences.)

Coupe de Ville is kind of mediocre but passes the time; it's a cross between Rain Man and Simple Men but without any man-related word in the title.

John Water's Cry-Baby is maybe less well-known than Hairspray, but just as good if not better. And it's actually a sort of musical. Although it does feature Johnny Depp in pre-asshole era.

[Small Man Big Horse]

PROBLEM CHILD (1990)
dir. Dennis Dugan
wrt. Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski
loc mgr. Ward Emling

I went into this knowing next to nothing about it, so was blissfully unaware of its calamitous ZERO PERCENT rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But GUESS WHAT... those tomatoes don't know what the fuck they're talking about, cos it's an absolute laugh riot. (Also they're the wrong colour, if anything green is under-ripe).

It's about an absolute nightmare of a kid that is dumped on a doorstep as a baby, and keeps fucking shit up and getting dropped off at a series of increasingly run-down establishments until finally (his wicker basket now several sizes too small for him) he is left at an orphanage run by hideous nuns, where he wreaks merry havoc until unscrupulous adoption agent Gilbert Gottfried hatches a plan to palm him off on dopey wannabe dad John Ritter and his glamorous wife who is fed up of not getting invited to their neighbour's children's parties.

The rest of the move is about him ruining the lives of his new parents and everyone around him while John Ritter - at his most John Rittest - tries his best to see the good in him and change his behaviour through love and positive reinforcement. Meanwhile this problem kid is stealing cars, setting fire to stuff, putting bangers in birthday cakes, bashing in skulls at the little league baseball, and tricking people into getting attacked by bears, ETC ETC. He's a proper nutcase and Kevin McCallister would shit himself if he ever met him.

Anyway, I thought it was really funny. A great dark satire on parenting, completely tasteless, absolutely everything turned up to 11, and a brilliant cast. Michael Richards plays a serial murderer called 'the bowtie killer' who becomes the problem kid's hero. Jack Warden is great as the Trumpesque grandfather, who is running for governor but has absolute contempt for the voters. Amy Yasbeck, whoever she is, is very funny as the mother, who at one point ends up having it away with Michael Richards on the kitchen floor while John Ritter listens on in a state of catatonic shock in the next room.

It's big, colourful and stupid, while still being fairly intelligent in its visual economy and use of comic motifs to advance the story ^[1], rattles through the plot in 80 minutes and manages to be pretty dark while still anchored by a lovely performance from lovely John Ritter.

Verdict:
YOUR HONOR... let the record show that I have NO PROBLEM with this child.


_{^[1] Example... when Michael Richards breaks out of prison by impersonating the psychiatrist sent to test him, it cuts from him strangling him to a close up of a reg plate that reads "PRZN DOC". We then crane up to see Richards inside the car, unconvincingly dressed as the shrink. The guard immediately waves him through - why wouldn't he? the plate is his ID - and the whole incident is done in about 3 seconds. I feel like a lot of directors nowadays would turn this into an awkward extended dialogue scene, but in this movie it's played like a Chuck Jones cartoon with a stupid but effective visual shorthand.}

I've just finished watching this and agree with everything notjosh says, it's a ridiculously over the top cartoonish slice of nonsense which made me laugh out loud a good deal. Some of that was due to naff effects (and hey, I'm not complaining, the fake cat was especially amusing) but it's ridiculous it received such a poor critical response, and I agree that it's far smarter than the vast majority of mainstream comedies, and gets a very solid 8.0/10 from me.

[Small Man Big Horse]

You may not have seen this... a rare interview with the Brain Gremlin that I managed to liberate from an archive a couple of years back:

I forgot to add my thanks for this as well, so thank you, that was a great watch, and I really wish they'd put together a mockumentary while filming the movie as everyone involved seemed at the very top of their game.

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

Hard to top the original, but wins by being as bonkers as possible.

I love all three Bill and Ted movies, but the first is still my favourite. The second is amazing in places and Reeves and Winter are even better than in the original, but there's the odd bit of homophobia which made me wince. And I know the first has the odd questionable joke, but the second feels like there's more of it (And I know it's from the shitty evil robot versions, but I don't know, on a recent rewatch it did spoil it a little for me).

The Adventures of Ford Fairlaine

When I first started buying DC comics in the late eighties I remember a lot of films being heavily advertised that looked fantastic and which I'd never heard of - one was Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, but there were also a sod load of ads for The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane that made it look like it was going to be the next massive hit and all but inescapable. Then it flopped, I don't know if it even got a cinema release in the UK, but it definitely didn't make it to my local video shop (this being pre Ritz / Blockbuster and a small shop that tended to only get the big box office hits with the occasional indie movie), and soon afterwards I saw some stand up from Dice Clay and decided against trying to track it down... Until last night!

The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane (1990) - Hated by the critics when originally released I liked this a certain amount, and though I'm not a fan of his stand up Dice Clay is surprisingly charismatic. Lauren Holly and Maddie Corman provide a lot of funny moments in a film which makes good use of its supporting cast, and Robert Englund's kinky English character and

Spoiler alert

Wayne Newton

[close]

make for decent villains. Fairlane is a little exhausting at times and his various catchphrases / verbal quirks sometimes feel a bit much, but this is smarter and weirder than I thought it be, and for a fair amount of the film I was thinking it wasn't as sexist as I'd presumed it'd also be and then there's a pointless scene where Ford hangs out with a whole bunch of sorority girls, and yeesh, either the cameraman or the director needs to be arrested. There's something else that I can't quite put my finger on that stops me raving about it, but overall this was surprisingly entertaining. 7.3/10