Last Blog On The Left

Some movies are just too weird to even begin to describe. ”Nothing but Trouble” is one of them but you know what? I will try to do it, even though it might kill me. That´s how far I am willing to go for you! No need to thank me, that´s just the kind of a guy I am. To be honest, I can´t understand why “Nothing but Trouble” doesn´t have a bigger cult following. It stars mostly comedians but make no mistake, this is actually a horror movie! Albeit one that tries to be funny (and sometimes achieves that but at times it falls so hard on its ass that it´s pretty painful to watch) and doesn´t want to genuinely frighten you, but it is a horror movie nonetheless.

This movie was made back in 1991 and it is to date the only film that Dan Aykroyd has both written and directed. Now, I don´t know if you remember 1991 but man, those were some swinging times! For instance, we had just barely survived M.C. Hammer and “U Can´t Touch This” and now the world was finally ready for a white guy named Vanilla Ice to blast onto the scene and revolutionize music and the rap genre, in particular. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were huge! Punk rock was dead! Grunge were sweeping across the world and “Genreation X”-ers were everywhere, moaning about their lives while being so ironic that no one believed anything they said. That´s the kind of world we were living in back then, folks. Oh, and a couple of years before, a guy called Tim Burton had become world famous for directing the first “Batman” movie, starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson as that white painted, funny fucker. I can´t even begin to describe how insanely big “Batman” was back then. I was ten years old when it was released and I was completely obsessed. Still am, to a certain degree. Joel Schumacher and the ass raping that was “Batman & Robin” kinda took the fun out of it for a couple of years back there but Christopher Nolan took care of that.

But anyway, Tim Burton was pretty big and I think it´s safe to say that when Dan Aykroyd sat down to pen the script for “Nothing But Trouble” he had Burton´s sensibilities in mind. Here´s what the movie is about: A financier ([Chevy Chase) meets a spurned lover (Demi Moore) and agrees to take her to a business meeting. On the way there, they run a stop sign in a tiny town called Valkenvania, in the middle of nowhere. They are pulled over and arrested by Officer Dennis (John Candy) and taken to the local court. This is where they meet the rest of his family, including Judge Alvin “J.P.” Valkenheiser (played by Aykroyd himself, under a thick layer of makeup). Things have definitely taken a turn for the worse…

When you watch this movie today, you´re struck by the notion that no matter how you look at it, it´s pretty impressive that Aykroyd got to make this movie at all. I have no idea how he pitched it and I´ve tried to find interviews where he talks about the experience but the only thing I´ve found was one where he said that “Nothing but Trouble” started and ended his career as a director. I don´t have to explain to you that this movie was a huge failure at the box office. I can understand that. It´s just too weird! But then again, that´s why I like it! You have to give credit where credit´s due and in this case Aykroyd definitely took a risk. He could´ve made the movie a lot safer and not quite so out there and I´m pretty certain that it would´ve gone over a lot better with the audiences of 1991.

However, that´s not how old Dan wanted to play. He took a risk. A pretty big one. He decided to make some sort of weird hybrid between Tim Burton´s aesthetics, Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl mixed with “The Addams Family”. A very twisted fairy tale that seems to be aimed at a young audience but is, in fact, made for an adult audience. And adult fairy tale, if you will. And I´m not talking about “adult”, in that kind of way! It doesn´t turn into a porno halfway through, if that´s what you´re asking.

Now, the reason why this was such a failure at the box office was mainly because this was marketed as a comedy and neither reviewers nor audiences found it particularly funny. I can´t understand why. I mean, you got Chevy Chase in there and he´s pretty good at being Chevy Chase, if you ask me. He has a lot of his usual smart-ass lines that oozes with dry wit. I´m not saying that this is one of those overlooked gems. This movie is a failure and if Aykroyd really did set out to make a genuinely funny film, he definitely failed, there´s no arguing about that. But this is one of those interesting failures, you know? Kinda like “1941” (which Aykroyd also had a part in, come to think of it).

Part of what makes this so interesting to watch is the set design. Aykroyd really pulled out all the stops on those, let me tell ya! They´re pretty impressive, even by today´s standards. You see, the Judge´s house is surrounded by tons of old cars and piles of scrap and it even has a rollercoaster ride called “The Bonestripper” that ends with the passengers going through a bone crusher. Different members of the Judge´s family overlooks different areas of this yard and the town and this scrap yard is supervised by two of his children (or whatever the hell they are), Lil´ Debil and Bobo. They are two bizarre, pretty obnoxious man children who wear diapers, sweat profusely and weighs about 300 kilo each. Naturally, they fall in love with Demi Moore´s character.

And as if that wasn´t bizarre enough, Dan Aykroyd also plays Bobo (unrecognizable under the heavy makeup). I know that Eddie Murphy played about 4 or 5 different parts in “Coming To America” and that was made back in 1988 and I think it´s safe to say that Eddie Murphy pioneered that kind of comedy where the lead actors play all sorts of different characters (that´s all he does nowadays, it seems) but that would make this one a pretty early entry into that particular subgenre of comedy. I mean, it wasn´t until “The Nutty Professor” in 1995 that Murphy really started indulging in that type of casting.

By the way, what the hell is going on with Eddie Murphy? He keeps making these kiddie-comedies and making billions so I guess he ain´t complaining but seriously! Where did it go wrong? I mean, he used to be really funny. He´s still a great actor and I really thought that he deserved that Oscar nomination he got for “Dreamgirls” but he needs to do some R-rated comedies again. I thought that when he did “Bowfinger” with Steve Martin we were gonna se the return of Eddie Murphy (the funny one) but instead we got a bunch of shit, including “The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps” and “Dr. Doolittle 2”! Come on, Eddie… I know you have it in you. What would Richard Pryor say if he saw you now? Think about that.

Anyway, so Dan Aykroyd plays a giant man-like blob of a baby and that´s pretty bizarre. But the most bizarre scene of the entire movie has got to be when a rap group enters the Judge´s hall. Now, I´m about as into rap as a nun is into devil worshipping but I know this particular group. They´re called The Digital Underground and back in the day, they were the shiznit, apparently. At this point in the movie they have been arrested for speeding and are about to get their fine. However, the Judge becomes curious about their various instruments so they rig them up and starts jamming out, with the ancient Judge Valkenheiser playing the Organ. Now, this is weird as it is, but one of the members of this fine rap ensemble is played by none other than Tupac Shakur! He doesn´t have a whole hell of a lot to do but he´s in there, which just adds to the surrealism of the scene.

You know, if this movie would´ve been a bit more gorier, I am pretty certain that it would´ve been a cult favorite today. But that´s not how the cookie crumbled, which makes this a pretty disliked and reviled flick, like it or not! However, I think that it´s a perfectly decent, slightly underrated twisted comedy in the vein of “2000 Maniacs” (or “2001 Maniacs” for you youngsters out there).

There are so many weird touches to this movie. For instance, Dan Aykroyd´s nose keeps changing and every now and then it looks pretty much like a penis. It has to be seen to be believed. Did I mention that Aykroyd isn´t the only one who plays two parts in the movie? John Candy also plays his twin sister, Eldona, who wants to marry Chevy Chase. Weird, weird, stuff…

It´s about time that “Nothing But Trouble” gets recognized for what it is: although a failure, it´s a pretty damn entertaining and weird as fuck one, at that! And that´s a hell of a lot more than I can say for the majority of comedies I´ve seen since this one was released.

I am fairly certain that this is the kind of movie that most of you will hate but I can´t help it: there is something extremely interesting about this kind of failed comedies that I always seem to enjoy. Whenever a comedy gets a low rating, I have to check it out. Don´t ask me what that is all about but I know that I am one of the few people out there who genuinely enjoyed “Freddy Got Fingered” or “1941” as well, for that matter. Comedy done wrong can be just as entertaining in a “car crash”-kind of way as truly funny comedy, wouldn´t you say? I guess it´s the masochist in me speaking again.

I remember a while back that this movie was actually in the top 100 of imdb:s lowest rated movies, which I find extremely hard  to be believe. This movie´s reputation needs to improve. I mean, just watch and be impressed by the sheer madness and weirdness that is on display here!

Until next time: take scare!

Thomas

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 17th, 2010 at 10:09 am and is filed under Comedy, Film, Horror. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.