Reviews

This is a formula movie with almost no real surprises, yet it works. It is very funny at times and quite touching at other times. The following contains some plot points, but nothing you wouldn't see in the trailer.

Ricky Gervais is winning as a misanthropic dentist who thru a series of events finds he can communicate with ghosts who are all very needy and want him to help them.

Greg Kinnear is great as the slimy dead husband of the beautiful Tea Leoni. Kinnear manages to get Gervais to go along with a scheme that involves getting close to Leoni.

As I say there is little in the way of originality. The obvious jokes of people thinking Gervais is talking to them when he is interacting with the ghosts for instance.

Finally look for Aasif Mandvi as a fellow dentist who is not quite friends with Gervais. Recommend.

I will never understand the hostility this movie instills in some people. I get that some people just do not like Jerry Lewis movies, but this is a real gem that has seemingly been lost in the mists of time.

This is not a documentary so there are plenty of anachronisms, but that is not enough for all the pans this films gets.

It has all the Lewis trademarks. Slapstick and sight gags fill the movie and always makes me think of the silent comedians Lewis obviously adored. In addition the dialogue is witty and very funny, including some laugh out loud moments. The cast is impeccable with a few of the Lewis players Jerry employed over his film career. Harold Stone and Kathleen Freeman are standouts. Two new faces for a Jerry Lewis movie are Jan Murray and Steve Franken. Franken would appear with Jerry again in Hardly working and they are both great here.

Lastly Jerry is vastly underrated as a director. He is innovative as always with camera angles and framing.

This film is in the upper echelon of the Lewis library just below The Nutty Professor, The Bellboy, and The Disorderly Orderly. Easily on par with any of the Martin & Lewis collaborations.

I highly recommend.

This Buck Henry created satire reminds me a bit of When Things Were Rotten as it is a series that just didn't have mass appeal while being very funny except for the pilot episode. I honestly have no idea how the series was green lit after watching how the unfunny hour long pilot turned in the very humorous half hour show.

Richard Benjamin leads a fine cast with many talented guest stars and the jokes come quickly. I suspect, as others have mentioned, that some of the jokes went over the audience's head. Available on DVD finally and also on streaming platforms like Crackle. Enjoy.

This pilot for a proposed 30 minute sitcom based on Driving Miss Daisy had much going for it and several questionable decisions. First the good. The casting is spot on. Robert Guillaume shines as a more assertive Hoke Colburn than was presented in the film. Joan Plowright, Saul Rubinek, and Theresa Merritt are all fine choices and lend an air of dignity and grace to the material. The pilot takes several scenes from the movie and strings them together as plot exposition. This is common in pilots and makes for awkward dialogue at times, but it does not slow the story too much. Now for the bad. This is shot as a standard three camera sitcom and it is simply a wrong choice for the material. It looks cheap and flat. A single camera setup would have been the correct choice. The show is presented as a standard comedy, which it is not, and a very loud, very annoying laugh track is employed far too much. Having said all that, I wish the show had gotten a chance to grow and find an audience. Over the course of a full season it might have found its footing.

It is hard to imagine anyone hotter than Mel Brooks must have been in 1975. Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein had both been released to wild applause only the year before. (Incredibly he brought both films to the screen in the same calendar year.)With that power he was able to bring his vision of the Robin Hood legend to television as a series, returning to that medium for the first time since the beloved Get Smart. Unfortunately When Things Were Rotten only survived a scant 13 episodes. Why was that?

First the good. The casting is top notch, including guest stars such as Carl Ballentine and John Byner to name only two. My only small complaint would be the role of Little John in which I would have preferred to see a comedic actor such as Pat McCormick, but that is quibbling. The behind the scenes people were also by and large top notch. I particularly liked the Pat Proft written episode.

Now to the bad. Although Mel Brooks is listed as a co creator he does not have a single writing, directing, or story editing credit and I believe that the show suffers from that. While the series has many of the Brooks trademark bits (Sentences interpreted literally and the like) it feels a bit like Brooks lite. Half the calories, but half the laughs, though the ones there are hilarious. Having said all that, I believe the main problem with the show is that it tries to be not only a comedy, but it also incorporates elements of a straight action/adventure show in many, though not all, episodes. It makes for an uneasy mix.

Bottom line is that When Things Were Rotten is a classic that all Mel Brooks fans, and indeed comedy fans in general, should see. I watched this show when it was on and also very recently and I wish there were 10 seasons instead of just one. Mel Brooks obviously felt he wasn't through with the Robin Hood legend as he returned to it in the film Robin Hood Men in Tights, even repeating many of the same jokes from the series. I love the "Hey, Abbott" joke so much I could hear it every day.

This one is highly recommended despite its flaws.