Reviews

Just watched this on HBO this morning. I had never heard of it before , and was curious. Despite the opportunity for extreme corn, most of the flick is really engaging. It seems like it ought to be a lame Disney movie, with the kid and the injured dog, but it has cussing and violence. I was pleased to see Travolta playing a loser. Usually if he's not the hero, he's a ridiculous melodramatic villain. He's usually too smug for my taste, but in this (Probably a reflection on the state of his career at the time) his character is pathetic for most of the movie. The villains are not original, but I really liked the little girl. For the most part, it is surprisingly good. Until you get to the end. The end of this movie is so completely lame, you will kick yourself for sitting through the whole thing. They really, really dropped the ball with that stupid, illogical, unrealistic ending. Ucccch!!! I would recommend just turning it off right before the dogfight at the end. Imagine something cooler happened instead. Trust me, whatever you can come up with in 30 seconds will be better than the crap these people thought up. I would really be interested in knowing who came up with that ending. Test audiences? Studio people? Travolta? The director? If that was what the writer originally wrote, I will eat my shoe.

Look, Norm McDonald is funny. If you don't think so, then you need to relax and have a little fun. If you are looking for deep intelligent introspection, why are you watching a comedy? There is no pretense with Norm. He doesn't want you to love him. Most comedians who try to make a movie, they want you to think they are sexy or smart or nice or something so that you will want to be their pal. Norm just doesn't care. He's just interested in being funny. Therefore, he doesn't pretend this movie is anything more than an excuse to do some funny gags and say some funny lines. It's more honest. Like when they introduce the Dead Hookers In The Trunk bit. There is a room full of women in skimpy outfits, and Norm says, "Okay, prostitutes," That's funny. Nobody pretends that it is necessary to waste time with phony exposition trying to explain how the hookers get into the room, they just cut to the joke. Which is the best thing about this movie. It is dumb, silly crude humor, and I love it. "Dirty Work" is funny.

I believe that "1941" could well be the worst film ever made. This flick is unbearable. Unwatchable. You keep going because you are so sure it has to improve. John Belushi is in it, for Pete's sake. Surely there must be a laugh or two in here somewhere. It is there. About 40 minutes in, John is flying a plane over the grand canyon and can't open a bottle of soda, so he breaks it and pours it into his mouth and all over himself. This is the only time I laughed in the whole movie. It's supposed to be a comedy, folks. The young romantic lead gives one of the worst acting performances I have ever seen. It is as if Spielberg deliberately set out to create the most putrid celluloid scat the world had seen. I can't believe the person responsible for E.T. and Jurassic Park made this abomination.