Super Sucker

In the vein of Kingpin, Office Space and Airplane. Super Sucker isn't as funny as any of those movies but, considering it's budget, is still pretty impressive. Fans of "dumb" comedies will probably like, not love, this move.

This movie won't make a clean sweep at the Oscars. And maybe it does suck and blow at the same time. Still, plenty of women--and men--will love Fred Barlow's attachments just as much as his wife does. His housewives' little helper turned her into a real dust Bunny and put the "make" back in "homemaking."

I don't know how Jeff Daniels did it, but somehow, in a movie where the hook is a vacuum cleaner used for women's pleasure, there are plenty of bare behinds, but none of them female! Sorry, guys. You won't get to see the Super Sucker panty hose directly applied. Oh, you'll see plenty, but this isn't triple X. The film is filled with innuendo; and yet, some people think the only thing dirty about the movie is the carpet.

Despite its lack of profanity, Super Sucker isn't for everyone. Jerry Falwell will want to stay home, and we'll all be better off if Pee Wee Herman stays home, too.

Believe it or not, this outrageous tale about two competing door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen actually has some basis in fact. According to the "Cyber-Space Vacuum Cleaning Museum," the Kirby vacuum cleaner used to come with a "Swedish Massage" attachment. But, kids, don't do this at home! If you're foolish enough to find out if it's really true that nobody does it like Hoover, you may not be able to reproduce--and that's a good thing for all of us.

One movie-goer commented that the beginning of Super Sucker was great, but then it slowed down the rest of the way. My fiancé loved it, though, and I thought it really picked up in the end.

I just saw the Super Sucker world premiere in Ann Arbor, Michigan (where Jeff Daniels grew up and now runs Purple Rose Films) and it is absolutely hilarious. Sidestepping all the toilet-level humor and midwestern-centric culture which made Escanaba in da Moonlight a less-than-perfect success, Super Sucker is a sharp comedy for the American everyman. Daniels stars as Fred Barlow, a vacuum salesman with an life-long passion for his trade. When Johnsonville, Michigan proves not big enough for both Barlow and his arch rival salesman (Harve Presnell), their boss creates a contest in which the man with the most sales wins exclusive rights to the city. Barlow is out of luck until he discovers a drapery attachment that pleases housewives in more ways than one. But will the "American Association for the Abuse of Household Appliances" approve? And will Barlow's rival let such a gimmick steal his loyal customers? The plot twists, turns and tickles brilliantly. I must say, for an independent film, this is one marvelously professional production which easily outdoes most contemporary Hollywood comedies. Direction, cinematography, sound, editing and writing are all top notch. Not to mention the cast, a classic lineup of wacky salesmen, chock-full with comedic talent. You get to love them all. Matt Letscher especially shines as Daniels's eager and naive sales apprentice. Above everything, let's not forget Mr. Daniels. I'd go so far as to say that this film is his crowning achievement on many levels. Not only has he crafted one of his funniest roles and films ever, he's finally starred in a comedy that you're not ashamed to admit liking. I interviewed Daniels for Ann Arbor's CURRENT magazine a few weeks before the premiere and he said that if there's one thing he knows how to do, it's to make people laugh. The proof is in the pudding. You won't need a drapery attachment to get absolute pleasure from Super Sucker.

Which is a compliment, if you've seen it. Its plot is puerile in nature and a base in concept, which will offend the gentle viewer. However, for those who are comfortable enough deal with the nature of the show will find themselves wanting to roll on the floor laughing.

I am particularly delighted how they put the fifties vacuum salesman into today's world, but gave the movie a fifties look and feel. The lighting, styling and many of the mannerisms of the characters had you jumping back and forth between the eras.

This movie, like Escanaba in Da Moonlight, had the strong sense of having been a play. Many of the stagings and acting parts jumped out and said this is a play stage scenario.

Go see this movie and enjoy it. Don't let your insecurity chase you away.

Being a fellow Michigander (with Jeff Daniels), I can see part of where this movie came from. It's a satirical look at Midwestern family values and sexual mores (like Daniels' other, more well-known, and overall better "Pleasantville"). Unlike "Pleasantville," where the attacks on sexual puritanism are subtle enough for some casual viewers to miss, "Super Sucker" is blatant.

The premise: A down-and-out vacuum cleaner distributor (Daniels) in a moderate-sized Midwest town (based on and shot in Jackson, Michigan) has been given 30 days to outsell his overbearing and obnoxious competitor. Whoever sells the most systems gets sole rights to distributorship. Daniels seems destined to lose -- the competition has much more advertising money, and is willing to throw any rules of fairness out the window -- until he discovers a special use for a long-discontinued attachment. He puts the attachment into rapid production, and offers it as a "special bonus" that only his distributorship has available. His fate changes radically, buildi ng up to a raucous farce of a climax.

The buildup is, in my opinion, slow, and bits are ham-fistedly predictable; the "cat" scene belonged in a Farrelly Brothers movie (and that's not a compliment), but it was thankfully brief. But once it gets going (around the midpoint), and writer/director Daniels decides that whatever real world logic he had been attempting to follow should be thrown out the window in favor of over-the-top absurdity, it has some truly comedic scenes. In a time when Michigan's sexual more pendulum appears to be swinging back to the left, the film is a nice push in the right direction. And, sociosexual politics aside, it's a darn fine piece of unpretentious independent comedy -- something we can never have enough of.

TV buffs will likely enjoy a cameo from Gilligan Island's Dawn Wells, making fun of her own stereotyping as Mary Ann.

Purple Rose fans will note that, except for bits of body-humor comedy and Daniels' affably hapless good guy (a persona he started with "Something Wild"), this is a much different film than Escanaba in Da Moonlight (also a good movie, although I enjoyed the play more). Like "Pleasantville," it has more national appeal ("Escanaba" was rife with Michigan in-jokes), and despite some of its stageplay-like shots, it's obviously based on a screenplay, with many more scenes and a much larger cast. I hope Purple Rose works out its own kinks in distributorship (leaving me wondering if Daniels' frustration here didn't contribute to "Super Sucker"'s premise), because these films deserve a larger audience than they seem to be getting.