All Roads

Rating: Null/10 (12 January 2005)

So Caddyshack is several of the funniest movies ever. It's a half-dozen characters each with their own story (sometimes the stories overlap) occupying the same celluloid. It's really a very interesting narrative strategy. I'd call it avant garde, except it was written by Harold Ramis, therefore making such a statement absurd. It's Chevy Chase's finest hour (so dry he might as well be a desert, his humor so sly you miss half his jokes) and Bill Murray's no slouch either (did he improvise the Cinderella story bit or was it written like that? was his part written at all or was he allowed to be as lewd and retarded as he wanted to be?). Oh, and then there's Rodney, the funniest guy in the film. He walks on, completely in charge of himself and his jokes and completely slays. He's not debonair, like Chase, nor is he, like Murray, a buffoon - he's simply hilarious. (Actually, Murray might be funnier, but Dangerfield is so garish and unreserved that it's fantastic). Caddyshack isn't great, as a whole, but it has tremendously funny characters; it's a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an evening.