Get drunk first.

Rating: 5/10 (13 January 2005)

There are several classic comedies that, at the time of this writing, I've never seen, like Animal House, Groundhog Day, and, until yesterday, Caddyshack. Maybe I just expected more, but I found Caddyshack to be pretty disappointing. The only funny people in the movie are Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield, and the latter only sporadically. Rodney Dangerfield has this style of comedy that is brilliant in stand-up, but in a film it is not very conducive to repeat viewings. His style is too spontaneous to be funny more than once or twice, but was still funnier in this movie by leaps and bounds than Bill Murray, who turned in an astonishingly unamusing performance.
A lot of times I find myself unable to sufficiently appreciate these goofball comedies, because when they reach the level of cult classic that this movie has, I really expect them to be side-splittingly hilarious, which Caddyshack simply is not. On the other hand, I think my sense of humor has matured beyond the ability to fully appreciate the crude humor for which 80s comedies are often so well known, so maybe I'm wrong (note: I'm not wrong).
Structurally, the movie is very well made. When it ultimately gets around to the real conflict in the movie rather than concentrating on the stupid clash between the drunken teen caddies and the snooty rich folk that populate the curiously named Bushwood Country Club, there is some genuine tension created. Bill Murray plays a groundskeeper caricature (replacing groundskeeper Willie, who showed up in the beginning of the movie and then promptly and inexplicably disappeared completely) who is assigned by the club's owner to get rid of the gophers that have somehow made it onto the golf course and proceeded to tear huge ruts into the putting greens. Murray's role for the rest of the movie is to plot huge military vengeance against the offending gopher, who really only wants to listen to good music and get his groove on. I'm not sure whose talent is more wasted, Murray's or the gopher's.
I've found recently that watching any documentaries provided with the DVDs almost invariably makes me appreciate the movie more. I liked this movie much more after I watched the cast and crew talking about their experiences in making it, much as my appreciation was lifted by similar documentaries for movies like Willard and Texas Chainsaw III, which had nowhere to go but up anyway.
What I can't get over, though, is how funny Caddyshack is not. It's not that the comedy flew below my radar, so to speak, but that there is really not much effort put into making it funny. If the making-of documentary is to be believed (although I have a feeling that this was said as a joke), the screenplay was originally intended to be a drama, but not much of what was in the script ever made it into the final film. If that's true, my theory is that it was the dancing mechanical gopher that turned it from a drama into a comedy. Whatever the case, Caddyshack turned out to be one of the most famous comedies ever made, although in my opinion, not even close to one of the best.