nafps

Candy and Richard Pryor were both great comedians in the 70s and 80s who only rarely were in films as funny as they were. Candy only starred in two good films, Planes Trains and Automobiles, and his greatest one, Only the Lonely, where he showed himself to be a good actor as well as comedian.

This is easily Candy's worst film. His whole appeal is his immense likeability. But here he's a mean SOB half the time, hostile and threatening. He bullies a woman for her appearance and at one point kidnaps and assaults a teenage boy, repeatedly threatening to murder him. Gee, how "lovable" is Uncle Buck, huh?

And Candy is trapped with a co star who plays the worst silver spoon fed stuck up brat you ever saw. No one feels any sympathy for this snob when she and her classmates look down at Candy for having (the horror!) an old car.

It's a John Hughes film, so you know what you're getting: Well off sheltered suburban whites who regard anyone who is not wealthy, suburban, or white as alien or threatening or to be mocked. These suburbanites have so much money they live in McMansions the size of some apartment buildings, with several acre lawns.

This film is strictly white people only, unlike 16 Candles or Weird Science where Asians and Blacks are there just to be laughed at. The twist is that Buck is the outsider for not having money.

You might feel more sympathy for Buck if he didn't become a bully halfway through. There are absolutely ZERO laughs for the last half of the film. Instead it's the pettiest kind of revenge, played for laughs. The niece's boyfriend cheats on her, and she and Buck bond over throwing him in the trunk, threatening to murder him repeatedly by using a drill or running him over, and hitting golf balls at him.

Yes, this is supposed to be "wholesome family fun." Kidnapping, threatening murder repeatedly, and assaulting a minor, all by an adult three times his size and age. About as wholesome as a Dirty Harry film.

Definitely an ugly thing to teach kids. "Violence against your ex boyfriend is A-OK. Get your uncle to do it for you! It will be fun!"

Unlike Fridays, which had great music but mostly forgettable if not downright awful comedy, SCTV had some of the best music guests on top of brilliant satire:

The Plasmatics, Jimmy Buffett, Levon Helm, the Tubes, Talking Heads, Hall & Oates, The Plastics...how rare was it for the Plastics to be on American TV? Where else could you see The Boomtown Rats, including in a comedy skit?

Where else could you see Jackie Kennedy (seriously?) doin comedy? Carol Burnett as a guest star? Spoofs of Evita and Dirty Harry? Dr. Tongue's House of Stewardesses in 3D?

And future comedy giants, Eugene Levy, John Candy, Rick Moranis. Unlike both Fridays and SNL, SCTV was consistently funny.

Much was made of this film being based on a true case, supposedly a textbook example of the apathy and brutality of kids in the 80s.

Turns out a reporter completely made that up. IRL the killer got into a fight with his girlfriend, killed her, panicked and asked his friends what to do. They didn't "refuse to report him." They weren't indifferent or blase. They were kids who were just as dumbfounded as him.

OK, so throw out the "true story" claims. They were bunk. How good is the story without them?

Just OK. There were plenty of other portraits of 80s kids that were better. Over the Edge is the best by far, followed by Suburbia. Tuff Turf is easily the worst, the most ridiculous and fake MTV version of teens of the 80s.

The acting is hit and miss. The story drags at times. Dennis Hopper is the high point of the film.