Slob humor and high decibel insults...

Rating: 2/10 (24 August 2014)

Although not a major box-office draw in 1980, "Caddyshack" is now ranked as one of the funniest sports movies ever made via magazine polls (it also has Tiger Woods' endorsement to boot), and yet it's full of withered fratboy humor, with a loosely-hinged, character-driven plot that could be summed up as "the slobs verses the snobs." Cocky young caddy at the Bushwood Country Club gets in with the nouveau riche swells in hopes of gaining a college scholarship, but soon rebels against the blowhard boors once he's invited to participate in a winners-take-all team golf match. The main narrative, littered with useless supporting characters and a few naked babes, is so thin (and derivative besides, mostly from TV shows such as "Saturday Night Live") that it has to rely on a troublesome animatronic gopher to raise audience good will. Debuting director Harold Ramis (who also worked on the screenplay) doesn't have the snappy timing of, say, a John Landis (even as he hopes to ape "Animal House" and its ilk). The movie feels cramped and cheap, with pothead-slow pacing and various episodes that aren't shaped and don't fit together. Since humor is entirely personal--what one viewer groans at may make hundreds of others roar with laughter--there's nothing left to respond to except the merits of the production (which is sloppy) and the comedians who make up most of the cast. Chevy Chase, Bill Murray (as an unhinged groundskeeper), Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield are each disappointing; relying on shtick and blobby improvisation, they're just winging it. Chase, in particular, seems super-imposed on the action through some technological shortcut; he's smug, not self-assured, and has all the personality of a man acting in front of a mirror. As the randy caddy, Michael O'Keefe must have relished this comedic opportunity to lighten up from his role as Robert Duvall's son in 1979's "The Great Santini"; his callow youthfulness, messy crop of blonde hair and deadpan sanity help him stand out from his hammy elders, but he's like Tim Matheson in "Animal House": the decent kid on the make, eager to be corrupted. We're supposed to cheer his corruption and take delight in the sight of the rube sticking it to the man, while Murray plants and sets off explosives during the golf match and nobody takes notice of him. Ramis has too many golf balls in the air--and they all come down unceremoniously. * from ****