Wow.
I wasn't sure or not how much I would like this, but I figured it had to be decent, considering its overall popularity, and it starring John Candy.
For a comedy, this had zero laughs for me.
John Candy plays this brother-in-law of this woman who is a totally one-dimensional character, her hatred and fear of Buck initially not making sense; it's for snobby reasons; with John Hughes, this is 'how will our children ever survive without us around for a very brief time?'
Buck likes to bowl (what kind of snobbery is this here?), gamble on horses, he smokes cigars, and, heaven forbid, his car is old and makes noise. Therefore he's looked down on, by whatsherface, the mother; which means, in Hughes' horribly unfunny fairy tale world, he's somehow 'rebellious,' and we (teenagers? Seems aimed at an even younger crowd here) will root for him.
Add to this his girlfriend, an incredibly nasty woman who won't let him even explain anything, and jumps to conclusions about him, basically acts in a manner that is bereft of actual human emotions for the most part, it's so exaggerated.
Of course, she is upset because she wants to marry him. (?!???) (She sure doesn't act like a woman in love...)
So he comes to help babysit the three children of the annoying man and woman he's related to: the cute little ones, featuring Gaby Hoffmann, and Macaulay Culkin; and the older one, a 15 year old teenage girl named Tia who is the biggest, worst brat in the world, absolutely impossible to sympathize with for her wanting freedom, to be with her boyfriend (named Bug? Seriously?) God this was so horrible.
Anyway they live in what is like a mansion basically, and the girl thinks they've got things bad when their mom gets them Chinese takeout for dinner; oh, the horror. How rough they have it.
But the thing really horrible about this, is not just the jokes (they ARE horrible); it's that Buck thinks it's okay - or, rather, the people making this, like John Hughes, thought it okay to have jokes about murdering someone; first, Buck threatens Bug with an axe, then with a drill; and he winds up keeping the guy tied up in the trunk of the car with gag on his mouth, because he caught the guy with another girl (as opposed to his wanting to have sex with the too-young Tia, which was what Buck was trying to stop all throughout) (it is REALLY supposed to be funny when the little girl - Maizy (Hoffman) says, about Tia and Bug kissing, something like "I bet they're using their tongues"? (I forget the exact line, but I'm not watching any of this again)
Buck threatening murder, and then actually keeping the guy tied up and bound in the car really exceeds anything that to me should be in any movie that's supposed to be a family comedy. It's more like something about some psycho killer, some murderer - why am I thinking of Goodfellas now? Ah yes, that's a very gentle, family movie....
An absolutely horrible movie, written by someone with a warped idea of 'humor', sold to a crowd primarily rich and white.
Nothing funny in here.
Even the whole thing of wanting Buck's girlfriend to know he's not fooling around with Marcie (Laurie Metcalfe) and be kind and understanding to him really goes out the window as he plays this psycho.
Oh yeah, there's a scene where a woman with a horrible wart on her face is told by him to "take this quarter, go downtown, and have a rat chew that thing off your face." Seriously, is that supposed to be funny?
No, I'm not upset because it's not "correct." What I don't like is the hatred here, the one-dimensional characters, the completely unfunny "jokes," and the way this kind of behavior is not only supposed to be 'funny' (because we're told it is?) but also supposed to be acceptable AND cheered on.
A ridiculous, absolutely HORRIBLE movie. Nothing funny in this one.
An absolute waste of the talents of John Candy, and an insult to moviegoers everywhere; it's amazing that anybody liked or likes this swill.
I wasn't sure or not how much I would like this, but I figured it had to be decent, considering its overall popularity, and it starring John Candy.
For a comedy, this had zero laughs for me.
John Candy plays this brother-in-law of this woman who is a totally one-dimensional character, her hatred and fear of Buck initially not making sense; it's for snobby reasons; with John Hughes, this is 'how will our children ever survive without us around for a very brief time?'
Buck likes to bowl (what kind of snobbery is this here?), gamble on horses, he smokes cigars, and, heaven forbid, his car is old and makes noise. Therefore he's looked down on, by whatsherface, the mother; which means, in Hughes' horribly unfunny fairy tale world, he's somehow 'rebellious,' and we (teenagers? Seems aimed at an even younger crowd here) will root for him.
Add to this his girlfriend, an incredibly nasty woman who won't let him even explain anything, and jumps to conclusions about him, basically acts in a manner that is bereft of actual human emotions for the most part, it's so exaggerated.
Of course, she is upset because she wants to marry him. (?!???) (She sure doesn't act like a woman in love...)
So he comes to help babysit the three children of the annoying man and woman he's related to: the cute little ones, featuring Gaby Hoffmann, and Macaulay Culkin; and the older one, a 15 year old teenage girl named Tia who is the biggest, worst brat in the world, absolutely impossible to sympathize with for her wanting freedom, to be with her boyfriend (named Bug? Seriously?) God this was so horrible.
Anyway they live in what is like a mansion basically, and the girl thinks they've got things bad when their mom gets them Chinese takeout for dinner; oh, the horror. How rough they have it.
But the thing really horrible about this, is not just the jokes (they ARE horrible); it's that Buck thinks it's okay - or, rather, the people making this, like John Hughes, thought it okay to have jokes about murdering someone; first, Buck threatens Bug with an axe, then with a drill; and he winds up keeping the guy tied up in the trunk of the car with gag on his mouth, because he caught the guy with another girl (as opposed to his wanting to have sex with the too-young Tia, which was what Buck was trying to stop all throughout) (it is REALLY supposed to be funny when the little girl - Maizy (Hoffman) says, about Tia and Bug kissing, something like "I bet they're using their tongues"? (I forget the exact line, but I'm not watching any of this again)
Buck threatening murder, and then actually keeping the guy tied up and bound in the car really exceeds anything that to me should be in any movie that's supposed to be a family comedy. It's more like something about some psycho killer, some murderer - why am I thinking of Goodfellas now? Ah yes, that's a very gentle, family movie....
An absolutely horrible movie, written by someone with a warped idea of 'humor', sold to a crowd primarily rich and white.
Nothing funny in here.
Even the whole thing of wanting Buck's girlfriend to know he's not fooling around with Marcie (Laurie Metcalfe) and be kind and understanding to him really goes out the window as he plays this psycho.
Oh yeah, there's a scene where a woman with a horrible wart on her face is told by him to "take this quarter, go downtown, and have a rat chew that thing off your face." Seriously, is that supposed to be funny?
No, I'm not upset because it's not "correct." What I don't like is the hatred here, the one-dimensional characters, the completely unfunny "jokes," and the way this kind of behavior is not only supposed to be 'funny' (because we're told it is?) but also supposed to be acceptable AND cheered on.
A ridiculous, absolutely HORRIBLE movie. Nothing funny in this one.
An absolute waste of the talents of John Candy, and an insult to moviegoers everywhere; it's amazing that anybody liked or likes this swill.