Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again

This was the funniest movie in the world when I was 8 years old. Now, not so much. Dr. Jekyll (Mark Blankfield) inadvertently snorts a powder he was mixing and becomes the disco-bopping, sex crazed Mr. Hyde. That is really all there is to this remixing of the Stevenson novel and THE NUTTY PROFESSOR. Director Jerry Belson throws out gags every 30 seconds and I'd say one out of three work. Blankfield truly has the energy for the part, that is for sure. I wonder why he was never a bigger comedy star? Look for small roles by George Wendt, Cassandra Peterson, Lin Shaye, and Art La Fleur. Seeing it some 25 years later, the best thing about it is the performance by one of my now favorites Tim Thomerson as a smug plastic surgeon. He is hilarious.

So it's a little dated now, it's almost 30 yrs old. Amazingly enough I have this on BETA tape and it still plays just fine. If it came to DVD I'd snap it up in a heartbeat.

The drug humor is not appreciated nowadays as it was back then. Then it wasn't as 'harmful'. Much like driving without airbags, seat belts and child seats. I can remember my father crying he was laughing so hard watching this. I had coworkers in the 90's who'd seen it and I could bust them up by getting on the intercom and saying "Iiiiiiiivvvvyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy".

Great lines, great spoof of the original, and funny to me anyway even three decades later!

I have seen this movie several times and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes movies such as the Airplane or Hotshot series. The lead actor does an excellent performance showing great comedy talent.

Doing an exaggeration of his druggist character on TVs' 'Fridays' series, comic actor Mark Blankfield does a very funny job at portraying these two classic characters. Dr. Daniel Jekyll is a surgeon who wants to get out of that line of work and do pure research. He's engaged to the materialistic daughter (Bess Armstrong) of his boss (Michael McGuire). But one of his experiments goes seriously awry, and he's transformed into the garish, swaggering Mr. Hyde, a sex fiend who would rather be a total 80s party animal than terrorize the public. Naturally, Daniel is stressed out when these transformations become fairly frequent.

It's certainly true that this raunchy, ridiculous spoof often traffics in cheap 'n' easy drug and sex jokes for the sake of laughs. But unless you prefer your comedies to be much more subtle and highbrow, this *does* show people a pretty good time. Granted, it can be hit or miss with its gags. It starts strong, and its first and final thirds are the best. It marked the theatrical directing debut for veteran comedy writer Jerry Belson (one of the four credited screenwriters here), who gives this great pace & energy. And even if it is overly silly and childish at times, this viewer really didn't mind all that much. At the very least, this is not bland or boring.

Blankfield is a hoot, especially when he's playing Hyde (not that that comes as a shock). He's well supported by a rich variety of familiar faces. Armstrong and the pretty, feisty Krista Errickson are fine eye candy as the two women in Jekyll & Hydes' lives. At first, the movie would seem to be an egregious waste of the great Tim Thomerson, but he does contribute some good, funny moments of his own in the movies' second half. A bunch of familiar performers have supporting roles and bits: Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson (the nurse whose breasts threaten to burst out of her costume), Peter Brocco, Liz Sheridan, George Wendt, Michael Ensign, John Dennis Johnston, Tony Cox, Art LaFleur, and Lin Shaye. George Chakiris appears briefly as himself.

In the end, it's hard (at least for this viewer) not to have SOME respect for a movie that ADMITS that it's an abomination of the concept created many years ago by Robert Louis Stevenson. The final gag is proof of this. And that theme song is so damn catchy.

Seven out of 10.

This is sweet. The actress who played the nurse with the gonzongas is the same actress who plays Elvira mistress of the dark. Another little tidbit is the actress who played the nurse who would give her wedding ring was the landlord lady of Roy Munsin in King Pin. This is most glorious story ever to be told. It should sell more copies than the bible. My parents played a part in suggesting the release of this movie to a local movie theater. The movie ran for a week and we were one of 4 families to see it. The lady who gave the go ahead (friend of the family) was let go by the theater. I was 3 years old. I have burned through 4 copies on VHS and finally had it converted to DVD. It's beautiful.