Airheads.

Review #2566: Airheads.

Cast: 

Brendan Fraser (Chester "Chazz Darby" Ogilvie), Steve Buscemi (Rex), Adam Sandler (Pip), Chris Farley (Officer Wilson), Michael McKean (Milo Jackson), Judd Nelson (Jimmie Wing), Ernie Hudson (Sergeant O'Malley), Amy Locane (Kayla), Michael Richards (Doug Beech), Joe Mantegna (Ian "The Shark"), Nina Siemaszko (Suzzi), Marshall Bell (Carl Mace), Reg E. Cathey (Marcus), David Arquette (Carter), Michelle Hurst (Yvonne), and Harold Ramis (Chris Moore) Directed by Michael Lehmann (#307 - Hudson Hawk, #1490 - Heathers)

Review:

"My feeling was that I had never done something like this. I was a young filmmaker. I had done a couple of independent movies that were really liked and out of the mainstream. And then I did Hudson Hawk, where definitely the sensibility was a little out of the mainstream and it didn’t play that well out of the mainstream. But I still hadn’t learned my lesson, thankfully, and I thought, I’m going to get people in this movie that you wouldn’t expect to see in a movie like this and that’s going to make it more like something I want to see."

You'll never believe this: an ensemble movie with a bit of music and plenty of attempts at comedy that didn't exactly gel with audiences. The script was done by Rich Wilkes, who had been inspired by a movie he loved with Dog Day Afternoon (1975), specifically in doing a comedic rendition that involved rock and roll. He had done music journalism and interviews prior to writing the spec script that eventually went from Island Pictures to 20th Century Fox. Apparently, Lehmann was the first choice in mind for the movie, with Airheads being his fourth movie as a director, after Heathers (1988), Meet the Applegates (1990), and Hudson Hawk (1991)*. While the studio and Lehmann traded disagreements that resulted in a PG-13 movie rather than, say, the R-rated one he hoped to do, at least the studio did not win the request before production where they wanted to have a comedian to "do a pass on the script" (according to Wilkes, Dennis Miller was that guy). As it happened, Wilkes was involved in two film productions in the year of 1994: The Stone Age, which he co-wrote with James Melkonian that was released in February, and this film, which came out in August. Released in the first week of August alongside such films as Clear and Present Danger and The Little Rascals (with The Mask being a few days beforehand), Airheads was not a financial hit, making barely a third of its reported $15 million budget. Lehmann carried along as a director, with his next movie being The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996) and the reputation of the movie has probably increased in recent years if it inspired people to talk about it for, say, an anniversary retrospective (link here).

For whatever reason, there were actual critiques about the movie either not being an outright comedy or a "satire". Now, I'll level with you: do you really care about "satires"? Do you really care about being subtle in a comedy? Do you really care about anything other than the rockin' beat of a song? Does knowing the "scene" of music such as alternative rock truly matter? Some of those answers are "yes", some of those answers are "no", but I was fine with the overall trip as a whole (besides, it can alway be worse with insulting music, just as The Big Lebowski and that stupid Eagles joke). Sure, it works best when cribbing from The Blues Brothers (1980) rather than Dog Day Afternoon, but it is a neat little movie. It's kind of funny to look at a cast like this and say, yes, one of these folks ended up winning an Academy Award years later.  You've got a little cameo for Harold Ramis (and Lemmy, because hell yeah), Arquette mostly being in the background, three Saturday Night Live guys of the time (Sandler, McKean, and Farley*), a Mike Judge cameo (who among us?), Richards lurking around in his giant frame, but most importantly: a lovable trio of goofballs with Fraser, Buscemi, and Sandler. They have a type of charm that can only come from people wrapped in enough confidence to believe that they really could just waltz in and become rock stars because their stuff is totally the stuff "for the '90s" (not being to actually listen to their songs, for the most part, is kinda funny). They make for quite the trio together in timing, toeing the line in amusement where one likes to see where they go rather than say, laughing at their dream. Sure, I could take it or leave it with Locane* or Farley, but the supporting folks that go around the film such as McKean and his delightfully rat finky performance (less so from Nelson and his attempt to match) or Mantegna and his wannabee Howard Stern* act. I'm a sucker for the people and voices that pop in and out as a time capsule for its time (I imagine that over 30 years, Marky Mark does still suck, although the jury is probably still out on the "Rodney King" chant). For a 92-minute ride, it's a neat comfort movie for those who buy into what it is selling in goofy enthusiasm that likes its folks and likes the scene enough to make it a movie that definitely deserved better.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

Next up: At last: Reynolds and Eastwood in City Heat.

*I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that Applegates is probably the most mediocre of the first four Lehmann movies if only because it is highly unlikely that Heathers, a movie I didn't like that much, is lower than Hudson Hawk, Airheads, and also a movie about mutant shapeshifters from Brazil living in Ohio.

*Yes, Michael McKean was on Saturday Night Live as a 46-year-old. Also, that would be *future WCW Heavyweight Champion* David Arquette. Hey, I didn't really give that much of a shit about watching him in Scream, were you expecting me to actually cite that movie? By the way, if you read the retrospective link, you'll probably be shocked as I was in the following sentence: Kevin Spacey wanted to be in Airheads! Good lord, imagine that guy being in the movie, what a dodged bullet. 

*Can I state a small pet peeve? I love Ghostbusters (1984), but am I the only one who thinks Ernie Hudson doesn't get the credit he deserves for being a key part of that movie? It's a QUARTET team, not a trio. Hell, The Real Ghostbusters didn't even let him play Winston, what kind of dumbass show does that? I think at least one percent of folks forgetting about Winston in comparison to the others is at least 0.1% based in weirdo prejudice where they can't even admit to being prejudiced. 

*In 2010, Locane, who was found to be over the blood alcohol level, was involved in a car collision that resulted in the death of a woman. She served a few years for vehicular homicide and assault by auto. Incidentally, in 1984, Vince Neil was involved in a car accident that resulted in vehicular manslaughter and DUI charges when a passenger in his car died. He served only 15 days in jail and paid restitution to the victims of the crash - The moral of the story: don't drink and drive.

*Remember when Howard Stern tried to be funny and not whatever the hell he is now? Incidentally, John "Stuttering John" Melendez appears in the movie and even has a song featured. 

UHF.

Review #1250: UHF.

Cast: 
"Weird Al" Yankovic (George Newman), Kevin McCarthy (R.J. Fletcher), Michael Richards (Stanley Spadowski), David Bowe (Bob Steckler/Bobbo the Clown), Victoria Jackson (Teri Campbell), Fran Drescher (Pamela Finklestein), Stanley Brock (Uncle Harvey Bilchik), Sue Ane Langdon (Aunt Esther Bilchik), Anthony Geary (Philo), Billy Barty (Noodles MacIntosh), Trinidad Silva (Raul Hernandez), and Gedde Watanabe (Kuni) Directed by Jay Levey.

Review:
Sometimes you really need something different in order to get a good laugh. What better way to enjoy the day than with a film featuring Weird Al Yankovic in his only leading role for something that has gradually become a cult classic since its release three decades ago. Yankovic has been doing music for over four decades, with his knack being humorous parody songs (with examples such as "Eat It" and "White & Nerdy") that I can attest to enjoying on occasion. The idea for a film came from Yankovic and his manager Jay Levey that would be based on the approach he made when doing music videos but with (in the words of Yankovic) "TV commercial parodies, movie trailer parodies, and obviously TV show parodies" - this episodic approach certainly seems familiar (with Airplane! (1980) coming to mind), and in the right hands this could work really well. Who could not resist shows such as practical jokes & bloopers, a weird clubhouse show, wheel of fish and commercials that range from spatula shops to "Gandhi II"? It did not prove to be a major success upon release; despite a $5 million budget, the film made just six million at the box office while receiving tepid reception in a month full of big movies (Licence to Kill, Lethal Weapon 2, and Weekend at Bernie's, for example). This is a wonderful gag-fest kind of film, happy to deliver weird humor to those who are curious for said fun with a fairly game cast that rises above a fairly predicable and fairly thin story. Yankovic plays a decent straight man, adept at rolling with the material (imagined or not) without too much difficulty, although the chemistry between him and Jackson (doing fine with a pleasant if not too big role) doesn't really register many big moments. McCarthy is enjoyable with such a hammy role that inspires dry gruffness for which he seems to be having fun doing. Richards, featured between his noted work on Fridays and Seinfeld, proves wonderful in delivering rapid laughs without caution - he seizes his moments with zest and keeps the film spinning. The others do fine jobs in their occasional moments on screen, such as Geary and his offbeat charm or Silva (who contributes one of my favorite puns about not needing badgers). The film lands more often than not with its barrage of jokes on numerous things that land fairly well now, and it could be argued that the film laid groundwork for the weird humor that can pop up in various forms on the Internet (the accident involving a saw seems especially ripe for someone to make a dark video to emulate). It never seems to run with ideas too half-baked - or at least it knows when to roll to its next show. A more seasoned filmmaker would've probably delivered a bit more depth with these characters before driving up with humor, although I wonder if it would have really made for a better experience overall. The film rolls along in its 97 minutes without too much trouble - it isn't hard to see where it goes to get from point to point besides it's humor, but at least it puts some sort of effort to carry along without becoming too eccentric or one dimensional. It freewheels with charm enough to make this a winner to recommend, one that suits well for the current times with a nudge and a weird grin on its face.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.