Homer and Eddie

Let's see: a foul mouthed, violent murderer, thief, escaped mental patient dying from an inoperable brain tumor (Goldberg)is driving a witless, infantile, drooling wanderer who has severe and permanent brain damage (Belushi) home to see his ashamed, abusive father who completely disowned him years earlier. Sounds like a fun road trip picture, doesn't it?

Not even close. This movie was so vile that most theater chains passed on it, and those that didn't yanked it from their screens in less than a week.

It is not funny, even in the context of a black comedy. It is violent, disturbing, foul and completely off the entertainment meter in the negative values. I have yet to see this on any retail or rental shelf, or any cable or TV station, even during the graveyard hell populated by Psychic Fraud Network and Ronco Commercials.

Don't hitch a ride with these two. Your sense of humor may be permanently hijacked.

I don't know what all the dissing is for! This is a great film, although I would've picked different music for the soundtrack. Entertaining...funny...heart and soul. What more could you ask for? Whoopi's best performance next to The Color Purple...

I recently rewatched Homer and Eddie (1989) on Tubi. The storyline follows a mentally handicapped man who is robbed, left with limited resources, and determined to return home to visit his parents. Along the way, a violent psychopath with her own agenda crosses paths with him and agrees to help. Despite their differences, the two form an unlikely bond as they embark on a cross-country journey.

Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky (Tango & Cash), the film stars Jim Belushi (Red Heat), Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple), Anne Ramsey (The Goonies), Karen Black (House of 1,000 Corpses), and John Waters (Seed of Chucky).

This movie always reminds me of Rain Man in many ways-if Tom Cruise's character were a hoodlum with anger issues. The performances by Goldberg and Belushi are truly underrated. Their chemistry, banter, and dynamic energy are the heart of the film, and their dialogue is sharp and engaging. The plot takes unexpected turns, with some clever twists and unpredictable moments. The whorehouse scene, in particular, is hilarious, offering a moment of levity. The ending, while more somber and realistic than anticipated, is very effective and adds depth to the story.

In conclusion, Homer & Eddie is an underrated, fun, and unpredictable '80s gem. I'd score it a 8/10 and recommend watching it at least once.

Whoopi Goldberg-James Belushi road movie isn't very good, isn't well-directed, but it does have something. Wrongly advertised as a wacky comedy, "Homer and Eddie" is actually a surprisingly sensitive and light-on-its-feet drama about friendship. Mentally backward man (Belushi) partners with an escaped mental patient named Eddie (Goldberg) who also has a brain tumor and keeps thinking she sees Jesus going by. Sort of a tragic love story between two unfortunate people that life threw away. Both stars are just fine, but the sloppy editing shows signs of an indecisive captain of the ship, and the blue-collar rock music on the soundtrack is grating. Panned by the critics, I found several scenes between the leads to be moving and funny, and Belushi shows a wonderfully huggable side of himself with a lovely monologue at a funeral; this is his best performance to date. **1/2 from ****

Let's start with the ugly just to get it out of the way. I think this movie would have been considered a cult classic on par with Harold and Maude if someone besides Belushi had played Homer. At times he seemed to fall out of character at others it just looked like he was an actor playing a retarded person and very rarely he seemed in character. It wasn't a role that could be pulled off by over-acting or playing bigger than life. This was a great role played by the wrong actor. Now the bad, the continuity and sound track distracted from the story, How would people recognize Homer if he had been gone since childhood and his parents had denied him? The times you were expected to suspend belief to forward the story or develop characters were too glaring and the music was out of sync with the moods.

But yet I gave it a 5 out of 10 because of the good. Whoopi who is not my favorite actress did everything with her character that Belushi could not do with his, and the story as a whole and what it was trying to convey about the cast-aways of society kept me watching to see the inevitable ending.