Really Weird Tales

It had been years since I watched this Canadian TV Movie. I do remember it from when I was a kid and I enjoyed it then. I was a big fan of SCTV so that may help, but I thought this was a great movie as long as you enjoy the goofy humour that goes along with it.

I believe originally this was broken into three parts and each were shown individually on HBO, but each time I had seen this they were all lumped together into a full length film. There are three separate stories that the host Joe Flaherty brings to us in a sort of THE TWILIGHT ZONE parody.

The first story written by David Flaherty, Joe Flaherty and David McAndrew is about the town of Fitchville whose fly swatter mesh factory has closed up and things have gotten pretty bad. In steps Howard Jensen (John Candy in a funny white wig) who stresses positive thinking for the townsfolk and a dandy of a real estate idea. I thought Candy was quite funny and got a number of laughs from me. Also starring Sheila McCarthy, Don Lake and Wayne Robson.

The second story written by David Flaherty, Joe Flaherty and Catherine O'Hara I thought was the best of the bunch and if you ask me they could have extended this one to perhaps a full length film. Catherine O'Hara is in great form playing Theresa Sharpe who has lived with some nuns (lead by Mother Superior played by Jayne Eastwood) her whole life, but now she is set free to live on her own. Thing is Theresa has a real gift where if she loves anyone they will explode on the spot. She works in the complaint department at a store. I mean where else would she work right? I thought it was quite hilarious when she deals with complaining customers over Cauliflower Kids (a parody of the Cabbage Patch Kids), a stuttering talking bird and Mervis Jutt (John Hemphill in a super goofy role) who has a real attraction to Theresa. I think it has an excellent twist at the end.

The third and final part may in fact be the weakest, but Martin Short carries it where he plays Shucky Forme a bad singer/performer. Short is certainly goofy and manic in this role. Shucky comes face to face with his biggest fan Tippy (the beautiful Olivia D'Abo) where secrets are soon revealed about Wade Jeffries (Don Harron) whose house he is performing at. Written by David and Joe Flaherty

In the end worth a viewing if you like goofy comedy or parodies. I loved it, so if you are a fan of Candy, O'Hara or Short (like me) you might really enjoy it.

I am a fan of John Candy so I will tell you up front that I loved the guy but Cursed with Charisma for being only about 30 minutes long was one of the funniest pieces of forgotten work that John Candy ever did. It summed up the 1980's America perfectly with all the leveraged buyouts, hostile take overs and real estate boom and portrayed the perennial TV real estate seminar and home study salesman that still exist today in the 21st Century.

I rate it up right up there with Planes Trains and Automobiles. If you ever get a chance to see it by all means do you will laugh yourself silly and you will have seen one of the great men of comedy doing what he did best making people smile and laugh. John may be gone but his comedy now belongs to the ages.

Joe Flaherty hosts this anthology movie. As host, he plays it a bit like Rod Serling in The Twilight Zone, but really over-the-top goofy, and yet not terribly funny unfortunately.

In the first segment, Martin Short plays an insecure lounge singer who's been invited to perform at a place like the Playboy Mansion. This has been his dream, and the Hugh Hefner- type host seems to like him, and one of the young women there seems to like him too. She's played by Olivia D'Abo, who looks absolutely adorable here (and also sexy in a hot tub). One running gag is that Short, when asked for a drink, asks for a "Pouss Café," which takes a long time to make, and he doesn't end up drinking it either time. After Short and D'Abo stumble into a secret passage, you'll guess how it will end long before the segment gets to the end.

In the second segment, John Candy plays a confident man who wants to make real estate barons out of every member of a poor town ("the flyswatter capital of the world"). As long as you don't read the brief plot summary on the back of the video box, you'd probably never guess how this one ends. It's not very satisfying.

In the final segment, a young woman who was raised by nuns is sent out into the world. They all treated her badly, since whoever (or whatever) she loves will explode. She does her best to try not to love anything, but is such a soft touch she finds it difficult and looks for a cure. I don't know that I liked how it ended, but it is at least the most interesting segment of the three. The surly talking Cabbage Patch-type dolls were amusing.

Not really recommended. It would help a lot if you're a big fan of the actors from SCTV.

All fans of both Martin Short and John Candy beware! Both segments, Short's and Candy's, are really weak, uninteresting, and strictly predictable, or utterly ridiculous. The third segment is mildly successful, but no better than a Saturday Night Live skit. Perhaps two giggles total in all three segments makes this not worth the time to view. Absolutely disregard the rave reviews on this site, or you will be destined to follow my mistake of putting far to much hope in the named actors. This is not even on a par with National Lampoon's most tiresome efforts. Save your time and save your money, and avoid, avoid, avoid. - MERK

A couple months ago I was browsing through a used book/movie store and found a pile of this movie. All were brand new and marked $2.99. I took one look and saw who starred and picked it up. Watching this movie is like watching "Sizzle beach U.S.A. (Kevin Costner's first film). The stars all look different, and the acting is pretty cheesy. The first tale "All well that ends strange" features Martin Short as a third rate lounger looking for some action, but then discovers whas really behind those buxom bodies and cute smiles. The second "Cursed with Charisma" is about the town of Fitchville who gets tricked by a no money down real estate boom. "I'll die loving" the last storie has a hilarious Catherein O' Hara with a really strange porblem. All stories teach a lesson and are really weird tales.