A Guilty Pleasure

Rating: Null/10 (13 January 2007)

Normally, this isn't my kind of movie. Monty Python style humor just doesn't turn me on that much. Neither does watching people get loaded on grass or anything else. But once in a while, I like to watch a movie that doesn't make you think too much. Just makes you laugh. As Stephen King once said, it doesn't hurt to feast on bologna every once in a while.
In my own personal checklist, this movie has everything going against it. It's a little too raw in places, it's full of juvenile sex episodes, it has people smoking dope, and there is no coherent plot line or point to the jokes. But that is also the beauty of it. It is patently absurd and that makes it laugh out loud funny. I like that they borrowed music from other films for some scenes in this movie; the James Bond style music used when Carl is pursuing that gopher, the JAWS excerpt when the Baby Ruth bar falls in the swimming pool (incidentally, I never liked Baby Ruths, even before I saw this movie.), and the excerpt from THE TEN COMMANDMENTS when the Bishop played golf in the middle of a thunderstorm. I also loathe eighties music, but Kenny Loggins's I'M ALL RIGHT was perfect for this movie, and I was humming it long after it was over. Go and figure. I have every reason in the world to hate this movie, but I love it. And don't get me started on Cindy Morgan. YOWZUZZZ!!!!! Wonder what she's doing now? Anyway, even though I have every reason in the world to pan this movie, I like it for the very reasons I should hate it. It's a nice, farcical little party and makes you forget your troubles. Maybe because they had great talent like Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield in it. And Chevy Chase was a perfect Joe Cool type character. And Bill Murray was crazier than an outhouse rat as Carl. Sadly, I've had some brief, casual encounters with Viet Nam vets who are, shall we say, not playing with a full deck. That is who Carl reminded me of, and those fellows are a sad lot indeed. I'm being a little bit too generous, but 7.5 to 8 out of 10 for this one.