National Lampoon's Movie Madness (1982)

Some things I liked some I did not.

Excellent, a Must See

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I can well appreciate who so many people don't like this film. First time I saw it, the first episode made no sense at all to me as I didn't understand what was being parodied, although I must admit that any movie with Candy Clark will certainly get my vote. Up to that time, however, I'd never seen a personal growth film or advertisement. Now I really enjoy this segment. I've always loved the spoof of the Greek tycoon. In this one, however, it's the lovely Ann Dusenberry on whom the camera really shines. (I was surprised to discover that she has made so few movies to date, preferring TV by a very wide margin.) However, my favorite of the three episodes is most definitely the third. Going right against his usual trademark, Richard Widmark is absolutely priceless as the do-nothing cop.

One of the strangest comedies ever made, and unfunniest. Trailing NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE by five years, you'd expect the boys to try for… something. But this movie lacks madness and couldn't be more sterile and uninteresting.Consisting of three tales, the first has ANIMAL HOUSE alumni Peter Riegert going through an early midlife crisis. He dumps his wife, quits his job and raises his children by himself: while dating a fourteen year old (Diane Lane) and not caring about anything… especially humor.The second is the most bizarre: SUCCESS WANTERS has JAWS 2 ingénue Ann Dunesburry as a beautiful college grad who becomes a stripper – she's raped by horny businessmen using, of all things, margarine and then marries a margarine Mogul and soon becomes a monopolizing widow. Then she's the first lady of the U.S. President and the real first lady's lover. Sounds more enticing than it really is, but Dunesburry looks great as usual.Then we have the last and worst story – although an indie film icon Henry Jaglom directs it (Bob Giraldi helms the first two). In MUNICIPALIANS a starry eyed Robby Benson plays a rookie cop who, unlike his gruff and lazy veteran partner Richard Widmark, wants to take the job seriously. He gets shot and beaten and just about everything else in the Wile E. Coyote tradition and… What does it matter? What does any of it matter? But like a train wreck, you might wanna take a peak. (And the magazine's cartoon artwork between the stories are actually pretty cool.) For More Reviews: www.cultfilmfreaks.com

I wish there was a way to give a movie a negative number on the IMDb scale. This thing started bad and built to a crescendo of bad so immense Robby Benson has deservedly never been heard from again. I can't believe that NL would attach their name to this but after seeing some "Making of..." features about Animal House and Caddyshack I can only conclude that there were drugs involved. Lots and lots of drugs. Originally written with four parts, I can only imagine in my worst nightmares how bad the fourth part must have been to have wound up on the cutting room floor.It isn't just bad acting and writing, it is a symphony of really bad ideas, thrown into a blender of unfunny gags, double-entendre that didn't work, obscure humor that seems like a spoof of a spoof. Well, two negatives definitely don't make a positive other than, I am positive I would rather have my doctor use a rusty implement during my next colonoscomy than to have to sit through this again. Don't think of this as a review as much as a a dire warning of impending doom if you choose to watch this thing.

You can call this one a flop, and that's a very big one too! Quality isn't associated with the words National Lampoon, but at least the Vacation and Animal House entries were fun, but this offering has got to be their most inane feature to date that I've watched. Ugh! The three piece story crazily attempts to parody the clichés and stereotypes that flooded Hollywood genre films, which turns out to be completely unfunny and boorish dross."Growing Yourself." - Jason a corporate lawyer decides to quit his job and split up with his wife so they both can grow and do what they always wanted to do. That's life, as Jason sees it and he takes over looking after the children, but his decision to follow this path might not be the right one.Talk about leaden, boring and stiff. There only real interest is the small performance of the lovely Diane Lane. The satirical element here seems to be pointing out something than actually just delivering it. The silly humour is strained, flat and particularly senseless. Peter Riegert's keeps it very deadpan in the lead role and Teresa Ganzel bubbles along in her role."Success Wanters" - After just finishing collage Dominique Corsair gets a job as a stripper and is rape with some butter by the Dairy Company Presidents. For payback she becomes interested in the margarine industry and virtually works her way to the 'very" top.Probably the best one of the three, but the competition wasn't too great. The gags seem to want go more subtle with its sexual and power orientated tone, but still they do feel more tacky and forced. The idea had something promising and inventive to build on, but the languid pacing begins to wear thin by the end and disastrous dialogue don't do it any favours at all. The humour tries, but more often doesn't come off, despite the hunger. The seductively Ann Dusenberry is pretty cold and manipulative throughout (well after the painful ordeal) and likes to gracefully bare it all quite a bit. Even the skimpy stripper outfit seems to get full workout for the opening half of the story. Popping up in amusing minor cameos ranged from Dick Millar, Mary Woronov, Olympia Dukakis, Fred Willard, Robert Culp and a favourite turn by Joe Spinell."Municipalians" - A serial killer who leaves copies of his driver's licence behind after each murder, is being tracked down by an enthusiastically naive rookie cop and his old grizzled partner. However the young cop learns that being tough is the only way to go, when the pair encounter one situation after another.Stupid! Oh yeah. Sure if you're going to spoof something extremely over-the-top, make sure laughter will stream off it. Obviously they forgot that! Even at its 30 minutes running, boy does it drag! Robby Benson's gratingly mock performance got rather overbearing with a wearied Richard Widmark doing very little as his partner. Christopher Lloyd underplays the role of serial killer, but his creepily wry and sympathetic performance works well and pretty much shows up the other leads. Elisha Cook Jr., Rhea Perlman and Harry Reems appear. When the jokes come, they truly feel out of sync and get rather stale with its repetitiveness of making fun of these cop clichés.In all, the idiotic material laced with its skits comes across as disposable, and the unbearable script is basically inept and witless. Only one or two few gags make it out each segment, but really there's too many cheap stinkers or plain misses which stick in your head. This is because it virtually becomes what it's trying to poke fun at and this basically shows in each story. It loses sight. The performances range from hot to cold, but who can't deny the embarrassment that's felt on most of their faces. Director Bob Giraldi's first taste is a vapid one for "Growing Yourself" , but "Success Wanters" showed some minor flourishes of mild effectiveness. Henry Jaglom does a labouredly jaded job on "Municipalians" . Rick Meyerowitz's vividly crass drawings that opens the film, are neatly devised and go on to set the style and mood.This low-brow comedy flunks it by overplaying it, with the main interested being derived by the familiar cameos. But really, is it worth going through this putridly lame and restless get-up, just to spot them. Well, that's up to you.