Review: Woody Allen's "SLEEPER" is Comedy Gold and a Sci-Fi Classic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 of 2023 (No. 1942) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sleeper (1973)

Running time:  87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)

MPAA –  PG

DIRECTOR:  Woody Allen

WRITERS:  Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman

PRODUCER:  Jack Grossberg

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  David M. Walsh (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Ralph Rosenblum, O. Nicholas Brown, and Ron Kalish

COMPOSER: Woody Allen

COMEDY/SCI-FI

Starring:  Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory, Don Keefer, John McLiam, Bartlett Robinson, Chris Forbes, Mews Small, Peter Hobbs, and John Cannon (voice)

Sleeper is a 1973 science fiction-comedy film directed by Woody Allen.  The film focuses on a store owner who is revived from a cryogenic state into a future world in which the United States has been transformed into an oppressive government that forces its citizens happy and content.

Sleeper opens in the year 2173.  The American Federation, a police state (of sorts), has replaced the United States of America, which was destroyed long ago.  The government is oppressive, but it keeps its citizens happy by giving them good jobs, plenty of food, mood-altering drugs, happiness via mind alteration, and a device called the “orgasmatron” to keep them sexual satisfied.

There is, however, an underground rebellion determined to take down the government and its mysterious “Leader.”  Towards that end, the rebels revive Miles Monroe (Woody Allen), a jazz musician who also owned of the “Happy Carrot” health food restaurant.  In 1973, Miles went in for a routine operation, which managed to go wrong, and the result was that he was cryogenically frozen.  The rebels illegally revive Miles and plan to use him as spy to infiltrate and derail the government because he would be the only member of this society without a known “biometric identity.”

As someone from the distant past, Miles is considered by the current government to be an “alien.”  If caught by the police, he will be brainwashed into a complacent member of society.  The success of Miles' spy mission and his hope of remaining free of brainwashing rest in an idle socialite and poet, Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton), who may be too self-indulgent to become a rebel.

Coup de chance, the film Woody Allen says will likely be his final directorial effort, was released in France in September (2023).  Because of the controversies surrounding Allen the last few decades, especially the last five years, the film may not get a U.S. theatrical release.  In anticipation of somehow seeing Coup de chance, I have decided to watch the recent Woody Allen films that I missed, such as the 2015 film, Irrational Man.

I also decided to review Allen's 1973 classic film, Sleeper, because this year (2023) is the fiftieth anniversary of its original theatrical release (specifically December 17, 1973).  I have seen the film twice before, but I have previously not written a review of it.

Because Woody Allen has become such a controversial and, in recent years, such a toxic figure in American cinema and culture, people may have forgotten what a charming cinematic figure he was for at least three decades.  They may also be unaware that Allen is also an accomplished clarinetist as one can discover in Sleeper's lively Dixieland-style jazz soundtrack, which features Allen performing with “The Preservation Hall Jazz Band” and “The New Orleans Funeral Ragtime Orchestra.”

Sleeper is certainly an excellent parody of the science fiction films of its time, and it is a sharp satire of pseudo-intellectuals, pretentious artists and their patrons, self-indulgent poets, and other assorted poseurs.  The film expertly references such then current science fiction films as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), and THX 1138 (1971).  [Douglas Rain, who provided the voice of “HAL 9000” in 2001: A Space Odyssey, also provided the voice of the medical computer in Sleeper.]

However, Sleeper is a showcase of Wood Allen's immense comedic talents, both as writer and as an actor possessing impeccable comic timing.  His skill at physical comedy is also quite impressive and reveals the influence of great performers such as Charlie Chaplin, Bob Hope, and Groucho Marx, and I would add the work of the great master of silent films, Buster Keaton.  Allen uses facial expressions and the rapid delivery of dialogue, which transforms this slightly built man into a comedy force of nature.  Allen uses his body like a prop, something to abused so long as it stirs a the barrel of laughs.  The result is a winning and lovable character in Miles Monroe.

Sleeper also proves (at least for me) that Diane Keaton is the perfect comic foil and partner for Woody Allen.  Obviously, she has serious dramatic chops, but Keaton is also pure magic and sparkly delight as a comedic actress.  I could watch another hour of her and Allen in this scenario.  Sleeper may seem a bit dated in some aspects, but its leads are eternally pleasing.  Sleeper is a clever satire as well as a witty spin on dystopian science fiction.  Other than Mike Judge's 2006 satirical sci-fi comedy, Idiocracy, there is nothing like it.  Still, the treat in Sleeper is an energetic Woody Allen and an equally smart and savvy Diane Keaton.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Friday, December 15, 2023

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW" is Always Waiting For Us

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 of 2023 (No. 1914) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Running time:  100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR:  Jim Sharman

WRITERS:  Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien (based on the original musical play by Richard O'Brien)

PRODUCER:  Michael White

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Peter Suschitsky (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Graeme Clifford

COMPOSER:  Richard Hartley

SONGS: Richard O'Brien

MUSICAL/COMEDY/SCI-FI and FANTASY/HORROR

Starring:  Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Peter Hinwood, Jonathan Adams, Meat Load, and Charles Gray

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 comedy-horror and musical fantasy film directed by Jim Sharman.  The film is written by Sharman and Richard O'Brien and is based based on the 1973 musical stage production, The Rocky Horror Show, for which O'Brien wrote the music, lyrics, and book.  Both the film and stage musical pay tribute to the science fiction and B-movie horror films that appeared in theaters from the 1930s to the 1960s.  The Rocky Horror Picture Show follows a newly-engaged couple who, because of car trouble, seeks shelter at a castle-like country home that is populated by bizarre guests and an even more bizarre host.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show introduces a naive young couple, Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon).  It is late November, and the couple are attending the wedding of their friends, Ralph Haphschatt (Jeremy Newson) and Betty Monroe (Hilary Labow), at Denton Episcopalian Church.  Brad and Janet get engaged after the wedding and decide to celebrate with their high school science teacher, Dr. Everett Scott (Jonathan Adams).

In Brad's car, the duo are en route to Scott's house on a dark and rainy night when they get lost and then get a flat tire.  Needing a telephone to call for help, the couple walk to a nearby castle.  There, they find the place in the throes of a rowdy party.  The guests are both flamboyantly dressed and bizarre.  What is even more bizarre however, is the host, the transvestite scientist, Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), who is about to unveil his latest creation.  There are two things of which Brad and Janet are unaware.  The first is Frank-N-Furter is from the planet “Transsexual,” located in the galaxy “Transylvania.”  The second is that at some point in the future, their story will be narrated by a noted criminologist (Charles Gray).

When The Rocky Horror Picture Show was initially released in the United States in the early fall of 1975, it was not well-received by either critics or audiences.  However, by the spring of 1976, the film's infamous cult following began, thanks to midnight showings, first in and around New York City, and then, spreading throughout the U.S.  Soon, fans in costume were performing alongside the film.

Dear readers, I must admit that I have never seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show in a theater.  I first saw it in the late 1980s via a Japanese import or bootleg copy at the science fiction, fantasy, and gaming convention, CoastCon (I believe), in Biloxi, Mississippi.  It was a wild screening, and I freaked out when audience members jumped out of their seats and started performing bits from the film.

As some of you may know, Netflix is shutting down its DVD-by-mail service – currently known as DVDNetflix or DVD.com.  I decided to spend some of these final months on this beloved service re-watching favorite films and well as trying some older films that I have never seen.  Watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show seemed like the right thing to do as a sendoff to the service that I used to build my movie review blog, Negromancer.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is indeed a tribute to science fiction, B-movie, and monster films.  There are references to such films as Universal Pictures' Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), RKO's King Kong (1933), Hammer Films' The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Fox's The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and MGM's Forbidden Planet (1956), to name a few.

However, Rocky Horror's punk rock fashions, colorfully dyed hair, corsets, torn fishnet stockings, glitter, androgyny, and sex and violence are more important than its haunted mansion, secret labs, rival scientists, and sci-fi angles.  For me, this film is about having a good time and being liberated.  Sometimes, the film may seem like it is being outrageous for the sake of being outrageous, but one of its final songs personifies the film for me, “Fanfare/Don't Dream It, Be It.”  It's okay to look like you want to and to be what you want to.  And yes, it's okay to be turned on by both Susan Sarandon in her unmentionables and Barry Bostwick in his Jockey classic Y-front briefs.

I can certainly point to Tim Curry's legendary performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, but everyone, from the filmmakers, cast, and crew to the artisans, craftsman, and technicians that brought the sets and costumes to life, made The Rocky Horror Picture Show memorable and, for many, unforgettable.  I can't forget the songs, so I need a soundtrack album.  Meat Loaf makes the most of his short time on screen.  The narrator turns out to be hoot.  Even the passing of DVDNetflix won't stop me from seeing this show again.  The music, the songs, the cast, and the setting seem as if they will never let me forget that part of me belongs, at least for a little while, at The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, June 15, 2023

NOTES:

2005 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  National Film Registry

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Not Another Teen Movie" is Wacky (Happy B'day, Chris Evans)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 108 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
Running time:  89 minutes (1 hour, 29 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong crude sexual content and humor, language, and some drug content
DIRECTOR:  Joel Gallen
WRITERS:  Michael G. Bende, Adam Jay Epstein, and Andrew Jacobson and Phil Beauman and Buddy Johnson
PRODUCER:  Neal H. Moritz
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Reynaldo Villalobos (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Steve Welch
COMPOSER:  Theodore Shapiro

COMEDY

Starring:  Chyler Leigh, Chris Evans, Jamie Pressly, Eric Christian Olsen, Mia Kirshner, Deon Richmond, Eric Jungmann, Ron Lester, Cody McMains, Sam Huntington, Joanna Garcia, Lacey Chabert, Samm Levine, Cerina Vincent, Beverly Polcyn, Ed Lauter, Paul Gleason, Mr. T, Molly Ringwald, Samaire Armstrong, Nectar Rose, and Randy Quaid with Nick Bakay, Melissa Joan Hart, and Sean Patrick Thomas

The subject of this movie review is Not Another Teen Movie, a 2001 comedy and parody film.  Not Another Teen Movie is a send-up and spoof of the teen movies that came before it, especially those that appeared in the two decades proceeding Not Another Teen Movie’s release.

When a group of screenwriters is trying to write a movie script that parodies two decades of teen movies, the script could end up packed to the gills from too many film references, and that’s what happens to Not Another Teen Movie.  This flick is a parody of teen movies going back to John Hughes’s Pretty in Pink (1986), but it especially focuses its satirical eye on the wave of the teen films that were released in the second half of the 1990’s.

That was a time when teenagers had so much disposable income because of a booming economy, and the entertainment, food, and apparel industries did everything they could to offer as many product choices as possible to these affluent and relatively affluent teenagers; there certainly was no shortage of films geared towards these youngsters.

In fact the high school that is central to the plot of Not Another Teen Movie, John Hughes High School, is named after filmmaker John Hughes, who came to prominence in the 1980’s with such popular teen flicks as Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club (1985).  Not Another Teen Movie is a tale of high school melodrama and sexual shenanigans.  Jake Wyler (Chris Evans, who is also currently playing “Johnny Storm” in Fantastic Four), handsome senior, but disgraced former starting quarterback, takes a bet that he can turn a homely, nerdy girl into the prom queen.

His choice for the girl to transform is Janey Briggs (Chyler Leigh), a dirty poor, white trash girl, who (of course) is extraordinarily beautiful once she’s cleaned up, takes of her glasses, and loosens her hair out of a long ponytail.  They gradually fall for one another; now, Jake and Janey must travel from their inauspicious beginnings and go through 20 years of accumulated teen movie refuse in order to get to their teen movie happy ending.

Not Another Teen Movie parodies or references several John Hughes films and such teen classics as Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), The Goonies (1985), Can’t Hardly Wait (1998), She’s All That (1999), Varsity Blues (1999), plus Clueless, Never Been Kissed, Road Trip, and Ten Things I Hate About You.  Like 2003’s Scary Movie 3 (and the entire Scary Movie franchise, for that matter), Not Another Teen Movie is full of hilarious scenes sprinkled generously over a piss-poor plot and a dead screenplay.  Luckily some of the scenes are either super funny or so totally out of left field that they could blow minds: Chris Evans’ Jake Wyler singing Aerosmith’s “Janie’s Got a Gun;” Deon Richmond’s Malik, the token black guy running into Sean Patrick Thomas’ unnamed black guy at a party where Malik is supposed to be the only black guy there; and the prom night musical number that is actually sung by the cast.

Moviegoers who have seen at least one teen movie (whether they were a teen at the time or not) going back to Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982 will find something they recognize from that sub-genre of films that chronicle the wacky misadventures of high school students.  That makes Not Another Teen Movie a must-see in spite of its flaws.

5 of 10
C+

Updated:  Friday, June 13, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Undercover Brother" Timeless and Funny

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 110 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Undercover Brother (2002)
Running time:  86 minutes (1 hour, 26 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for language, sexual humor, drug content and campy violence
DIRECTOR:  Malcolm D. Lee
WRITERS:  John Ridley and Malcolm McCullers, from a story by John Ridley (based upon the Internet series by John Ridley)
PRODUCERS:  Brian Grazer, Michael Jenkinson, and Damon Lee
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tom Priestley Jr.
EDITOR:  William Kerr
COMPOSER:  Stanley Clarke

COMEDY/ACTION

Starring:  Eddie Griffin, Chris Kattan, Denise Richards, Aunjanue Ellis, Dave Chappelle, Chi McBride, Gary Anthony Williams, Neil Patrick Harris, Billy Dee Williams, Robert Trumbull, J.D. Hall (voice), William Taylor

The subject of this movie review is Undercover Brother, a 2002 comedy and action film from director Malcolm D. Lee.  The movie is based on an original Internet animated series created by screenwriter John Ridley.  The movie spoofs 1970s blaxploitation films and also James Bond movies via the character “Undercover Brother.”  Undercover Brother the movie focuses on a group of secret agents trying to stop “The Man” from derailing an African-American candidate’s presidential campaign.

As a comedy, Undercover Brother, a broad parody of black exploitation films and 70’s Afro-American pop culture, focuses on its characters rather than its simple storyline and straightforward, but thin plot.  A light plot is a treacherous path for a film; especially in light of how uneven previous blaxtiploitation parodies were, focusing almost entirely on skewering preconceptions rather than telling a story.

This includes Hollywood Shuffle and I’m Gonna Git you Sucka.  Both films rapidly ran out of steam, and Shuffle, which also skewered stereotypes of black people in mainstream Hollywood films, struggled with being both a comedy and social satire.  Sucka tried to be both a parody and a conventional action movie (or it certainly seemed that way) and often failed on both counts.

Undercover Brother doesn’t have any of those problems because it’s a straight yuck fest.  Any social commentary on the relationships between the skin colors is either simply coincidental or so slyly and quickly interjected that the audience will either miss it or ignore it.  Director Malcolm D. Lee (Spike Lee’s cousin and the director of The Best Man) carefully navigates the dangerous straits that are parodies.  He keeps things moving, and with a script that makes almost every word an integral part of a joke, he doesn’t have to deal with nuisances like character development.  I do have to give the film credit because the jokes are little sharper than they appear.  It’s like the mainstream gets to join the mostly black cast for the laughs, but it’s as if the creators aren’t letting them in on the entire joke because “they” might be the punch line.

In the plot, a lone black agent, Undercover Brother (Eddie Griffin), joins B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., an organization engaged in a secret war against The Man (voice of J.D. Hall), an evil figure who wants to reverse the influence of African-Americans on white American culture.  The Man also wants to derail the candidacy of a promising black presidential hopeful (Billy Dee Williams) by controlling his mind.  Undercover Brother must also face off against The Man’s main henchman, Mr. Feather (Chris Kattan).  Crazed and struggling with own attraction to hip-hop culture, Mr. Feather unleashes the one weapon sure to bring a brother down, an attractive white woman in the form of White She Devil (Denise Richards).

Well, I laughed a lot, and I think that anyone who likes black exploitation films, 70’s black cinema, and movies that poke fun at such will like Brother.  The acting is good enough, although Chris Kattan and Dave Chappelle struggle with over the top characters whose routines are too long and often wear out their welcome.  Denise Richards, an underrated actress because people focus on her stunningly good looks and super fine body, is underutilized in the film.  White She Devil’s successful quest to conquer Brother is funny, the best parody and only true satire in the film, but once her part is over, she is reduced to window dressing.  It’s a shame because the dynamic between Brother, White She Devil and the savvy Sistah Girl (Aunjanue Ellis), who is not big on the idea of a black man sleeping with a white woman, is the film’s best subplot.

My reservations aside, I want to see this movie again because what it does well it does oh-so-damn well.  The filmmakers are incredibly inspired and when they’re on in this film, I laughed as hard as I’ve ever done watching any movie.  Comedy is tricky, so I can only give kudos to this solid effort.  And, hey, I have to give props for the film’s large cast of African-Americans.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2003 Black Reel Awards:  6 nominations:  “Theatrical - Best Actress” (Aunjanue Ellis), “Theatrical - Best Director” (Malcolm D. Lee), “Theatrical - Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted)” (John Ridley), “Best Film Soundtrack,” “Best Film Poster,” and “Best Song” (Snoop Dogg-performer, Bootsy Collins-performer and song writer, George S. Clinton-song writer, Jerome Brailey-song writer, and Fred Wesley-performer for the song “Undercova Brother (We Got the Funk”)

Updated:  Monday, November 18, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: Something for Everyone in "Amazon Women on the Moon" (Happy B'day, John Landis)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 207 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
Running time: 85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTORS:  Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, and Robert K. Weiss
WRITERS:  Michael Barrie and Jim Mulholland
PRODUCER:  Robert K. Weiss
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Daniel Pearl
EDITORS:  Malcolm Campbell, Marshall Harvey, and Bert Lovitt
COMPOSER:  Ira Newborn

COMEDY

Starring:  Arsenio Hall, B.B. King, David Alan Grier, William Bryant, Roxie Rocker, Rosanna Arquette, Steve Guttenberg, Ed Begley Jr., Carrie Fisher, Sybil Danning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Griffin Dunne, Henry Silva, Andrew Dice Clay, and Russ Meyer

The subject of this movie review is Amazon Women on the Moon, a 1987 satirical comedy and parody anthology film.  The film spoofs 1950s sci-fi movies by featuring a fake 50s sci-fi movie called “Amazon Women on the Moon.”  In between segments of “Amazon Women on the Moon,” the movie offers 21 comedy sketches meant to parody the experience of watching low-budget movies and infomercials on late-night television.

Amazon Women on the Moon is kind of a sequel to The Kentucky Fried Movie, the cult classic spoof film comprised of several skits lampooning TV news, commercials, and films.  Amazon Women on the Moon does much of the same thing – using short comedy sketches to spoof late night porn, commercials, infomercials, and educational films.  The movie also spoofs 1950’s sci-fi films in the form of the title skit, Amazon Women on the Moon.  The tale of three astronauts who travel from the Earth to the moon and discover a race of superwomen led the buxom Queen Lara (Sybil Danning).  The Amazon Women skit not only pokes big fun at the super low production values of old science fiction films, it even makes fun of the technical difficulties that occasionally plague late night TV and old movies.

Perhaps, the subject that the film best skewers is tabloid news fodder, the kind of sensational human interest stories one would find in tabloid magazines because of their shock value.  Some of Amazon Women on the Moon’s best moments include skits about a doctor loosing a couple’s newborn son (featuring Michelle Pfeiffer), a woman who uses a credit card machine to download a consumer dating report on her blind date, a funeral home that uses a celebrity roast in lieu of a funeral service to send off the recently departed, and a man who is killed by his rabidly malfunctioning household appliances (featuring Arsenio Hall).

I found Amazon Women on the Moon not quite as funny as I did the first time I saw it about 16 or 17 years ago, but it’s best moments are still quite hilarious and irreverent, even jaw dropping and surreal, at times.  Imagine “Saturday Night Live” or “Mad TV” with a harder edge or with a more brutal sense of humor.  It’s wacky, wild, and weird, and I heartily recommend it.  Even those who won’t like it much will still find at least one skit that strongly assaults their funny bone.

7 of 10
B+

Updated:  Saturday, August 03, 2013

Review: "History of the World: Part I" is as Funny as Ever (Happy B'day, Mel Brooks)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 205 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part I (1981)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – R
WRITER/PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Mel Brooks
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Woody Omens (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: John C. Howard
COMPOSER: John Morris

COMEDY/HISTORICAL/MUSICAL

Starring: Mel Brooks, Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Ron Carey, Gregory Hines, Pamela Stephenson, Shecky Greene, Sid Caesar, Mary-Margaret Humes, Rudy De Luca, Andréas Voutsinas, Spike Milligan, and Orson Welles with Barry Levinson and John Hurt

The subject of this movie review is History of the World: Part I, a 1981 comedy film from writer-director Mel Brooks. The film is a parody the various kinds of historical films, including period costume dramas and sword and sandal epics. The catchphrase “It’s good to be the king” originated in this film. History of the World: Part I contains mock coming attractions for “History of the World: Part II,” but that was a joke, as no actual sequel was planned.

Mel Brooks writes, directs, produces, and plays five roles in his comedy semi-classic, History of the World: Part I. The film can be considered an anthology or a series of vignettes that take a farcical, skewered, and wacky view of history from the dawn of man through the cavemen, the Roman Empire, and the Spanish Inquisition, to the French Revolution. The film also features some appearances by Brooks’ films semi-regulars including Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman.

I can’t imagine why Brooks picked the particular pre-historical and historical periods he did; perhaps, they were the funniest to him or he found in them the most to send up. However, the film is only mildly funny until the Spanish Inquisition segment, which is a musical number with a dance routine that even features water ballet. Both the song and the dance numbers are both awesome and freaking hilarious. Perhaps, the film’s best bit is the closing segment, the French Revolution. Some of the most famous quotations from Mel Brooks’ films come from this side-splitting section. It alone is more than reason enough to see this film.

Most of the jokes here are sight gags and anachronisms, but when Brooks and his cast are “on” in this film, the picture really works, as in the aforementioned second half. It’s worth noting that History of the World: Part I is not a great work, but because of it does have some great moments, it’s not to be missed.

7 of 10
B+

Updated: Friday, June 28, 2013

Review: "Superhero Movie" a MAD Spoof of Spider-Man

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux


Superhero Movie (2008)
Running time: 85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude and sexual content, comic violence, drug references, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Craig Mazin
PRODUCERS: Craig Mazin, Robert K. Weiss, and David Zucker
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Thomas E. Ackerman
EDITOR: Craig Herring
COMPOSER: James L. Venable

COMEDY/SUPERHERO

Starring: Drake Bell, Sara Paxton, Christopher McDonald, Leslie Nielsen, Kevin Hart, Marion Ross, Ryan Hansen, Keith David, Brent Spiner, Robert Joy, Jeffrey Tambor, Tracy Morgan, Regina Hall, and Pamela Anderson

The subject of this movie review is Superhero Movie, a 2008 comedy spoof film from writer-director Craig Mazin. The film stars Drake Bell as a teen-turned-superhero.

Superhero Movie, which spoofs (of course) superhero movies, is not in the vein of such classic spoof films as Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, but is certainly a sibling of films like the Scary Movie series, Date Movie, and Epic Movie. In fact, Superhero Movie’s writer/director, Craig Mazin, co-wrote Scary Movie 3 and 4, and like Scary Movie, Superhero Movie has enough fart jokes and necrophilia to charm all preteen and teen male demographics.

High school loser Rick Riker (Drake Bell) pines away for Jill Johnson (Sara Paxton), the prettiest girl in school, but she hardly knows that Rick exists since her eyes are on Rick’s tormentor, the school bully, Lance Landers (Ryan Hansen). After being bitten by a genetically altered dragonfly, Rick develops superhuman abilities like incredible strength and armored skin. Deciding to use his new powers for good, Rick becomes a costumed crime fighter known as “The Dragonfly.”

However, any superhero needs a super villain, and standing in the way of Rick’s destiny is “The Hourglass.” After an experiment goes wrong, Lou Landers (Christopher McDonald) develops the power to steal a person's life force merely by grabbing that person’s hand. In a dastardly quest for immortality, Landers/The Hourglass plots to kill 1000 people in a single life force assault. Will Rick/The Dragonfly, with his unimaginable strength, unbelievable speed and deeply uncomfortable tights, be able to stop The Hourglass? And will he stay a virgin forever or get with Jill?

Although Superhero Movie pokes fun at the X-Men film franchise, and to a lesser extent Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, and Superman Returns, most of this movie is a comic riff on 2002 film, Spider-Man. Think of Superhero Movie as a MAD Magazine spoof of the first Spider-Man film, but with the kind of raw gross out humor that is way too much in bad taste to ever make it into the modern MAD. Talk about un-PC: Rick’s Uncle Albert (played in his inimitable style by Leslie Nielsen) humps the corpse of a pretty girl!

But is this movie funny? The answer is very much so. Craig Mazin’s script could be seen as inspired lunacy or being so shamelessly in bad taste that he should be shunned from polite society. Sometimes, it seems as if this movie has a thousand visual gags, clever and otherwise, but they trigger belly laughs – even the jokes that Mazin and his cast and crew can’t quite pull off.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Review: "Don't Be a Menace" Says "Negro, Please" to Hood Movies

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)
Running time: 89 minutes (1 hour, 29 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong language, sexuality, some drug content and violence
DIRECTOR: Paris Barclay
WRITERS: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Phil Beauman
PRODUCERS: Eric L. Gold and Keenen Ivory Wayans
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Russ Brandt
EDITORS: Marshall Harvey and William Young

COMEDY

Starring: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Tracey Cherelle Jones, Chris Spencer, Suli McCullough, Darrel Heath, Helen Martin, Lahmard J. Tate, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Kim Wayans, Vivica A. Fox, Omar Epps, Faizon Love, Bernie Mac, Antonio Fargas, LaWanda Page, and Damien Dante Wayans

The early 1990s saw a torrent of gritty urban movies, with the Oscar-nominated Boyz n the Hood being the best known. The Wayans family of comedians and comic actors, best known for the FOX Network sketch comedy series, In Living Colour, spoofed the black coming-of-age, growing-up-in-the-hood movies with the 1996 film, Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.

The film follows the naïve, virginal Ashtray (Shawn Wayans), a young man sent to live in South Central Los Angeles with his father (Lahmard J. Tate), who seems to be no older than Ashtray. Ashtray falls in with his gang-banging cousin, the psychotic Loc Dog (Marlon Wayans). Ashtray gets an education in life on the streets from Loc Dog and his friends, the politically conscious Preach (Chris Spencer) and the wheel-chair bound Crazy Legs (Suli McCullough). After falling in love with Dashiki (Tracey Cherelle Jones), a young woman who has seven children by seven different men, Ashtray has to choose between the straight life and life in the inner city with Loc Dog.

Like the Wayans’ I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood spoofs a genre associated with African-Americans. I’m Gonna Git You Sucka was a send-up of 1970s blaxploitation movies, but Sucka was a love letter to black exploitation films like the Shaft franchise.

Don’t Be a Menace, however, attacks the genre it spoofs. This movie’s three writers, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Phil Beauman, mine urban flicks such as Friday, Dead Presidents, and Juice, but especially Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society to launch an all-out assault against “hood” films. Their self-important attitudes, reliance on violence and the worst aspects of black poverty to entertain, and their self-pitying messages to the broader society are all fodder for the Wayans’ brand of savage satire and mean-spirited parody.

Don’t Be a Menace also goes after black pop culture, especially low-brow entertainment, prison-inspired fashion, and the glorification of violence, promiscuous sex, and drug and alcohol abuse. Even certain aspects of African-American culture, politics, and religion get a swift kick from the Wayans. Pompous preachers, hypocritical Black separatists, and assorted sectarians are mocked. Everything moves to a soundtrack filled with the same kind of raunchy R&B, hip-hop, and rap that fills the soundtracks of straight urban movies.

The performances are good, with Tracey Cherelle Jones, Chris Spencer, and Suli McCullough managing to shine in what is really a Wayans fest. Don’t Be a Menace was the first time Shawn Wayans really got to show what he does best – play the straight man with deadpan perfection, while still showing his ability to be crazy when he has to be. Marlon Wayans, a brilliant physical comedian and gifted comic actor, comes close to owning this movie. I don’t know if he is just fearless or shameless, but Marlon is good.

That’s why it is a shame that Don’t Be a Menace, in spite of some really funny set pieces and some truly inspired dialogue, largely feels flat. It is as if Paris Barclay’s script and the screenplay are not on the same page. There are moments when everything comes together and delivers comedy gold, but that doesn’t happen often enough to make this movie truly great as it should be. Back in 1996, we needed Don’t Be a Menace as an antidote or counter to a rash of hood movies, and it was good enough at what it did that the film’s spoofing is still sharp.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

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