I'm no fan of Chevy Chase. I've never thought he was very funny, since his "humor" is mostly like John Ritter's in "Three's Company"—making faces and falling down. However, I was nostalgic for the early 1980s so I decided to watch "Modern Problems". Big mistake.
First, I knew the movie would be bad almost immediately because of the opening shot. During the 1980s, many directors used a gimmick in which they would slowly pan through the set during the opening sequence and focus on what they thought were funny things. About the only movie in which it worked was "Back to the Future", otherwise it's a sure sign that a bad movie is beginning. Second, the plot—Chevy Chase's character (air traffic controller Max Fielder) acquiring telekinetic powers while driving past a truck full of nuclear waste—is something that even high school sophomores are too sophisticated to accept. Third was Chase himself, doing interminable mugging for the camera in his best Jim Carrey impersonation. I could continue, but those three things sank the movie almost immediately for me. Watching it was 90 minutes I'd really like to have back.
Fielder's use of his new powers was to inflict cruelty and embarrassment on people after his breakup with girlfriend Darcy (Patti D'Arbanville). The result is simply cringe-inducing, because a lot of the story is quite sadistic and not funny at all. Dabney Coleman and D'Arbanville give the movie its only life as Chase's romantic rival and girlfriend, although I could have done without a view of Coleman's bare rear end. I may take trips down memory lane to the early 1980s again, but I won't do it by watching "Modern Problems". Chase's dumb "Vacation" films look like Shakespeare compared to this thoroughly idiotic movie.
First, I knew the movie would be bad almost immediately because of the opening shot. During the 1980s, many directors used a gimmick in which they would slowly pan through the set during the opening sequence and focus on what they thought were funny things. About the only movie in which it worked was "Back to the Future", otherwise it's a sure sign that a bad movie is beginning. Second, the plot—Chevy Chase's character (air traffic controller Max Fielder) acquiring telekinetic powers while driving past a truck full of nuclear waste—is something that even high school sophomores are too sophisticated to accept. Third was Chase himself, doing interminable mugging for the camera in his best Jim Carrey impersonation. I could continue, but those three things sank the movie almost immediately for me. Watching it was 90 minutes I'd really like to have back.
Fielder's use of his new powers was to inflict cruelty and embarrassment on people after his breakup with girlfriend Darcy (Patti D'Arbanville). The result is simply cringe-inducing, because a lot of the story is quite sadistic and not funny at all. Dabney Coleman and D'Arbanville give the movie its only life as Chase's romantic rival and girlfriend, although I could have done without a view of Coleman's bare rear end. I may take trips down memory lane to the early 1980s again, but I won't do it by watching "Modern Problems". Chase's dumb "Vacation" films look like Shakespeare compared to this thoroughly idiotic movie.