Going Berserk

A drummer/chauffeur (John Candy) engaged to a congressman's daughter (Alley Mills) encounters a sleazy film director (Eugene Levy), the leader of an aerobics cult (Richard Libertini), and other crazed characters during the days leading up to his wedding.

If you want to see a very skinny Eugene Levy, or a young pre-ghost busting Ernie Hudson, this is the film for you. Obviously not as big as other John Candy films, but well worth a watch if you happen to be a fan. (As someone who is more familiar with "Freaks and Geeks" than "SCTV", it was a special treat for me to see a young Joe Flaherty.) That is really all I can say. A fun film to be sure...

John Bourgignon (John Candy) and Chick Leff (Joe Flaherty) from Melonville run a limo service. Their friend Sal DiPasquale (Eugene Levy) is a B-movie producer who wants to film John's wedding. John is engaged to Nancy Reese (Alley Mills), the daughter of Congressman Ed Reese (Pat Hingle). Ed is running for president and prosecuting cult leader Rev Sun Yi Day. John gets arrested for fighting in a male strip club. He is forced to go on the run handcuffed to criminal Jerome Willy Muhammed (Ernie Hudson). Sun Yi Day tries to hypnotize John into killing the congressman.

This relies a lot on the comic charms of John Candy. It really doesn't have much more than that. It's very uneven which is similar to SCTV itself. The movie kinda works with Candy. Flaherty is a good sidekick when he's actually on the screen. The movie is disjointed. The plot meanders a lot. It does have some outrageous funny moments.

This is raunchy comedy at its best... "I'd like to sing a song, with my d!ck in my hand, just for you honey". Before American Pie this was the epitome of teen comedy. Home of one of the greatest comic spectacles of all time "Kung Fu You" this movie easily wraps you up and will not let you go until you hear Blue Moon at the end. This film also serves as one of the best times a song at the opening credits was actually well done. If you can find it, I suggest that you purchase it.

Yeah,it's low budget. Yeah,it's one of Candy's earliest films, but it is maybe his funniest! John Candy was not so far removed from his SCTV days in "Going Berserk" and it shows. If you don't crack up when Candy tries to help a guy with his groceries while being hand-cuffed to an escaped cohort in the process of having sex with his girlfriend with only the apartment door separating them (huh?, see the movie!), or the way Euguene Levy (the creator of Kong Fu Yu) is talking to his mom on the phone, or just the countless number of facial expressions that only Candy could deliver you better check your pulse! If you like the John Candy of "Only the Lonely" this may not be a movie I would advise you to see, but if you enjoy the SCTV days of John Candy, this movie is a must see!

It's not really a story film, despite the goings-on of John Candy, who's a limo driver with squirrelly acquaintances and his efforts to marry Alley Mills. She's the daughter of Congressman Pat Hingle. A cult led by Richard Libertini is trying to kill Hingle, and they figure to hypnotize Candy into doing it because why not?

It's an excuse for the members of the cast who were members of Second City -- Candy, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty -- to do Second-City-style sketches. they range from mediocre to pretty funny. There's also the inevitable bit, when they have Candy hypnotized, that they seem to think it is very funny to have him do.... nothing. Film makers seem to think that this is funny. I do not.

Your enjoyment of this film will depend on your taste in comedy and whether you enjoy Second City.