Drop Dead Fred (1991)

Very well executed

Absolutely brilliant

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I am proud in a weird way to say that I've know seen all of Doug Walker's picks for the Top 3 worst movies he's ever reviewed. Well, he's probably changed it by now. I'd love to see an update! We all knew "The Garbage Pail Kids Movie" would be his #1 spot, but I was eager to see his #2 spot, which happens to be this film. A work friend of mine even said this was the first movie HE saw that he sincerely hated. It's just amazing how many little awful things there are in his movie. This movie tells the story of a woman and her imaginary friend, Drop Dead Fred.First off, the special effects are really stupid and annoying. There's about one good shot they put all their budget into. There's a running gag where she sneezes and Fred flies around in this stupid manner. The worst is probably how he calls her Snotface and she's actually inspired to put her boogers on other people's faces. It's as stupid as it sounds. Fred causes mayhem by walking in dog poop and getting the floor all dirty. Fred is unbelievably annoying and is relentlessly obnoxious when he first appears right on screen. Flashbacks show Fred teaching her as a little girl to rob her parents.Her dad gets arrested for something that wasn't his fault and we literally never hear of him again. Yes, Fred was supposed to bring balance to the woman's life but he got her dad arrested. This other guy walks on a tree because he knew she'd run out of her window, what? Every joke is predictable. We know that they're going to drop the teapot after they mention it's expensive. We know Fred will smash the window when he says he'll be careful. Apparently, Fred also knew that destroying her friend's (played by Carrie Fisher, RIP) home would make her live off the insurance. It's obnoxious, unfocused and all around stupid. *

I was around six or seven years old when this movie came out and my parents allowed me to watch it. Through the years, whenever it would come on TV, I would sit and watch it religiously. Then, it completely disappeared from the lexicon of television and movies. Now, you can only buy a region 1 DVD copy on eBay or Amazon for ridiculous prices, or you can buy it on Amazon streaming for $10. It has probably been well on a decade or more since I last watched this film. I recently bought a Drop Dead Fred T-shirt and finally decided to buy the movie on Amazon streaming. I watched it today and realized that the message of the movie has been the message I have lived my life by ever since first watching the film 25 years ago. Love it, or hate it, this film has a wonderful message, and while the antics of Elizabeth and Fred may seem extremely juvenile to most people, it is those very people whom the film is trying to fight against. Lizzie grew up with a mother who didn't love her. Her mother even admits to her at the very end of the film that she shouldn't have had a child to save a marriage that ended up being unable to save. Having a strict mother who expected nothing but perfection from a very young child only goes to prove how much this child needed a creative and imaginative outlet, and found that in the form of her imaginary friend, Drop Dead Fred. As an adult, Lizzy is struggling to cope with her husband's cheating and her overbearing mother wanting to take control of her life again. Because her mother stifled her imagination by getting rid of Drop Dead Fred when Lizzie was a child, she now needs his ridiculousness and his guidance to find herself again and to find her confidence to stand up to people in her life and tell them that she needs to be in control of herself. She then becomes lighthearted again and learns to fall in love for her and no one else. At the age of almost 32, I am a high school English teacher with a masters degree, and the message that I have always tried to live my life by and maintain for myself as I get older is to never lose my childlike innocence. No matter how old I get, no matter how serious life can be, and no matter how many outside forces try to bring me down, it is important for me to never forget my sense of wonder that I had as a child, and that is the very message that this film tries to portray. This is one of my very favorite childhood movies and will forever remain such an important film in my development. I can't wait to show it to my students in film studies next week to leave them with a wonderful, uplifting message to start their summer vacation with!!!! I only wish more people could appreciate this film and understand the many great metaphors hidden throughout!

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

I first watched this film when I was a child, and hadn't seen it in years. It had always made me cry. And still does. I admit at the age of 26 I still love this film. I hate Elizabeth's mother, she is controlling.I was happy when I saw this on DVD in a store near me, and although it was cheap I wondered if I should get it. No regrets, now I can watch it over and over. And cry at the end. I have just finished watching it and some tears were streaming. You have to watch it till the end to understand. I have watched Rik Mayall in Bottom-a British comedy. I didn't know he had broken out in America, well I was young. I love his look in the film, and thought he and Elizabeth were good for each other (I know he wasn't real). My niece who aged 5 likes this film, although she hasn't watched it all, I will gladly show her. I know she will enjoy it.