How do you review a film when you disagree with the MERE PHILOSOPHY behind it? In which alternate planet is this considered acceptable? I have no idea... All I can say is, I never want to go within a trillion light years of it.
There's a little girl, right? She has an imaginary friend (who's not so imaginary) only she can see. An irrepressible goofball called Drop Dead Fred. He's played by the late Rik Mayall, who can be both charismatic and hilarious in the right role. This isn't it. Fred constantly gets the girl in trouble, by smashing stuff up, tipping things over, making messes... etc.
Of course, everyone believes the young lady is responsible, so she ends up in trouble more-or-less every day. You'd think for stitching her up so much, the child would HATE Fred. No way. The two are apparently 'best buddies' and the concerned mother, who is painted as the bad guy, is some kind of evil monster.
I'm sorry... Clearly I've missed something here. FRIENDS help you. FRIENDS support you. FRIENDS are nice to you. Fred does none of those things. He creates chaos, then just disappears... leaving the kid to take the fall. He also insults everyone around him, won't leave you alone for a second, smears bogeys on your cheek... Yeah, some 'friend'.
21 years later, and the little girl is now a fully grown doormat, played by Phoebe Cates. She wants to get back with her ex Charles, even though he boasts in front of her that he bangs his new girlfriend 'like a piece of veal'. In the space of one day she has her car stolen, and is fired from her job. Distraught, she is in no position to argue when her mother INSISTS she stay at her old house for a while. And while rummaging around her old bedroom... Guess who she finds sealed away in an old box?
Fred has come back, and he can't leave 'till he makes her happy again'. It's impossible to attach that statement to ANY of his subsequent actions in the film. He smears dog poo all over Cates's mother's brand new carpet. He sinks her mate's expensive houseboat. He makes her beat up an innocent violinist at the mall. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Needless to say, everyone thinks she's nuts, and later on she gets some pills that could get rid of Fred. This is depicted as a BBAADDDD thing... as if stopping everyone believing you're crazy is somehow undesirable. Better yet, it could rid you of Rik Mayall... playing his most obnoxious and unlikable role to date. And if you've ever seen The Young Ones and Bottom, you'll know how 'impressive' that feat is.
What we have here is a difference in opinion between me and the filmmakers. They want me to see Fred as a charming throwback to childhood, where you could get away with any antisocial behaviour because it could be chalked up to hi-jinx. As for the mother, who DARES to try to discipline her daughter for all this bad behaviour, she is an ol' stick in the mud with NO sense of fun.
Well... I felt sorry for mum, as she was made to clean up after Fred, and see her valuable possessions get smashed by this invisible hooligan. As for the little girl, how she could find any kinship with this nasty piece of work is beyond me. And the screenwriter too as it happens, who doesn't bother to explain the attraction.
Flash forward to when she's an adult, and there's a dinner scene that must be seen to be believed. In the ongoing pursuit of Charles, Cates runs into an old male school chum just as messed up as she is (I won't insult your intelligence by telling you if they end up together) and they go out for a meal at a posh restaurant. Fred is along for the ride of course, and he manipulates Cates's body so she makes a public spectacle of herself... pulling stupid expressions, tipping water onto her lap, throwing food across the room...
Any reasonable man would have paid the cheque, mumbled some lame excuse and got the heck outta there. Not this guy though... He finds her manic behaviour utterly bewitching.... And starts doing the same himself. Who does that?! Are we meant to think of them as non-conformist heroes? All I got from it was these two should have adjoining cells in the local asylum. A normal, 'boring' reaction perhaps, not in the spirit of the film... But you know what? I don't care a jot.
Then again, no-one's conduct in this movie vaguely resembles anything in real life either. Take Cate's friend, who's houseboat was unfortunately sunk. When she finds out her living quarters and all her possessions are gone forever, she barely bats an eyelid. And when she hears Drop Dead Fred was responsible, with NO evidence whatsoever, she BELIEVES this unlikely story about an invisible friend and starts ripping apart a chair he was sitting in. This is in front of a packed meeting full of her work colleagues. "HEY, PHIL!! WE GOT A THIRD ROOM AT THE ASYLUM FREE?"
I can't leave without mentioning the final scenes, when Mayall gets all gooey. You see, after 'helping' her solve all her problems (was this in a different movie?) he has to say goodbye to Cates, in what must rank at one of the most failed attempt at pathos like, ever... I couldn't wait to see the back of the irritating w*nker. Never mind the mournful background music... I felt like sticking on Celebration by Kool And The Gang.
So, to sum it all up then... Did you do good Mr Ate De Jong?
Nope. 2/10
There's a little girl, right? She has an imaginary friend (who's not so imaginary) only she can see. An irrepressible goofball called Drop Dead Fred. He's played by the late Rik Mayall, who can be both charismatic and hilarious in the right role. This isn't it. Fred constantly gets the girl in trouble, by smashing stuff up, tipping things over, making messes... etc.
Of course, everyone believes the young lady is responsible, so she ends up in trouble more-or-less every day. You'd think for stitching her up so much, the child would HATE Fred. No way. The two are apparently 'best buddies' and the concerned mother, who is painted as the bad guy, is some kind of evil monster.
I'm sorry... Clearly I've missed something here. FRIENDS help you. FRIENDS support you. FRIENDS are nice to you. Fred does none of those things. He creates chaos, then just disappears... leaving the kid to take the fall. He also insults everyone around him, won't leave you alone for a second, smears bogeys on your cheek... Yeah, some 'friend'.
21 years later, and the little girl is now a fully grown doormat, played by Phoebe Cates. She wants to get back with her ex Charles, even though he boasts in front of her that he bangs his new girlfriend 'like a piece of veal'. In the space of one day she has her car stolen, and is fired from her job. Distraught, she is in no position to argue when her mother INSISTS she stay at her old house for a while. And while rummaging around her old bedroom... Guess who she finds sealed away in an old box?
Fred has come back, and he can't leave 'till he makes her happy again'. It's impossible to attach that statement to ANY of his subsequent actions in the film. He smears dog poo all over Cates's mother's brand new carpet. He sinks her mate's expensive houseboat. He makes her beat up an innocent violinist at the mall. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Needless to say, everyone thinks she's nuts, and later on she gets some pills that could get rid of Fred. This is depicted as a BBAADDDD thing... as if stopping everyone believing you're crazy is somehow undesirable. Better yet, it could rid you of Rik Mayall... playing his most obnoxious and unlikable role to date. And if you've ever seen The Young Ones and Bottom, you'll know how 'impressive' that feat is.
What we have here is a difference in opinion between me and the filmmakers. They want me to see Fred as a charming throwback to childhood, where you could get away with any antisocial behaviour because it could be chalked up to hi-jinx. As for the mother, who DARES to try to discipline her daughter for all this bad behaviour, she is an ol' stick in the mud with NO sense of fun.
Well... I felt sorry for mum, as she was made to clean up after Fred, and see her valuable possessions get smashed by this invisible hooligan. As for the little girl, how she could find any kinship with this nasty piece of work is beyond me. And the screenwriter too as it happens, who doesn't bother to explain the attraction.
Flash forward to when she's an adult, and there's a dinner scene that must be seen to be believed. In the ongoing pursuit of Charles, Cates runs into an old male school chum just as messed up as she is (I won't insult your intelligence by telling you if they end up together) and they go out for a meal at a posh restaurant. Fred is along for the ride of course, and he manipulates Cates's body so she makes a public spectacle of herself... pulling stupid expressions, tipping water onto her lap, throwing food across the room...
Any reasonable man would have paid the cheque, mumbled some lame excuse and got the heck outta there. Not this guy though... He finds her manic behaviour utterly bewitching.... And starts doing the same himself. Who does that?! Are we meant to think of them as non-conformist heroes? All I got from it was these two should have adjoining cells in the local asylum. A normal, 'boring' reaction perhaps, not in the spirit of the film... But you know what? I don't care a jot.
Then again, no-one's conduct in this movie vaguely resembles anything in real life either. Take Cate's friend, who's houseboat was unfortunately sunk. When she finds out her living quarters and all her possessions are gone forever, she barely bats an eyelid. And when she hears Drop Dead Fred was responsible, with NO evidence whatsoever, she BELIEVES this unlikely story about an invisible friend and starts ripping apart a chair he was sitting in. This is in front of a packed meeting full of her work colleagues. "HEY, PHIL!! WE GOT A THIRD ROOM AT THE ASYLUM FREE?"
I can't leave without mentioning the final scenes, when Mayall gets all gooey. You see, after 'helping' her solve all her problems (was this in a different movie?) he has to say goodbye to Cates, in what must rank at one of the most failed attempt at pathos like, ever... I couldn't wait to see the back of the irritating w*nker. Never mind the mournful background music... I felt like sticking on Celebration by Kool And The Gang.
So, to sum it all up then... Did you do good Mr Ate De Jong?
Nope. 2/10