An anomaly of a film.

Rating: 10/10 (11 May 2017)

I've watched this film at least twice a year for a quarter of a century, and the last time I watched it, I realized something: this film is an anomaly. It shouldn't exist as a classic of comedic cinema yet, against all odds, it does. The story is pretty unimportant and there is almost nothing in the way of cogent plot or character development. Furthermore, it objectively fails as pretty much any formulaic type of comedy film. It fails as a romantic comedy, it fails as a coming of age story, and it fails as a class comedy despite its tagline of "the snobs against the slobs". However, like a McDonald's cheeseburger, it's greater than the sum of its parts. Taken individually, their ingredients are awful. But when you put them together, I don't know, it just works. I'm of the opinion that the reason that it remains a classic, and that countless golfers across the world chant "na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- na-na-na" as they putt, is squarely on the shoulders of the brilliant performances of the cast. Some of the greatest comedic actors of that era, namely Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and Chevy Chase, are firmly on their A Game here, and are absolutely sublime in this film. And with the help of the great Harold Ramis behind the camera, they raise these characters that should've been easily forgotten to some of the most quoted in the history of comedy. It shouldn't have worked, but it did. This film is not for everyone. If you aren't tickled by these performances, then there's very little to hold your interest. And I get that. But that's the way comedy works. It either hits you or it doesn't. And this film still makes me laugh out loud every single time. And I imagine that it probably always will.