If you want to start with 1988’s superior comedies, devour anything on this list first – but since we’re among friends, here are two other movies because I know you’re a proper appreciator of all cinema.
I enjoy broadly comic 1980’s Richard Dreyfuss. Starting with Paul Muzursky’s Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) through Another Stakeout (1993), the actor unleashed a series of comedies that have been swept under a bunch of dusty cinematic throw rugs. Some of that has to do with availability. Except for Let It Ride (1989) – shoutout to The Jockey Club Podcast – none of these films has been made available on Blu-ray, and I can’t remember the last time I saw one pop up on a streaming service. (Disney made Down and Out and 1987’s Stakeout disappear into their vaults for misfit movies, so that explains their absence.)
As far as Moon Over Parador goes, it’s earned its misplaced reputation reputably – by being a critical and commercial flop. Helmed by Mazursky (a filmmaker of stout artistic pedigree), critics took Moon Over Parador to task for being amiable and attractive but shallow. At the box office, it failed to recoup its production costs. People just didn’t find it all that funny. None of these opinions are wrong – and yet I’m recommending that you watch it anyway. Despite being one of the lesser comedies in the Broad Dreyfus oeuvre, I’m recommending it as a way back into this forgotten era. And that’s not to say that Parador doesn’t offer exactly what you want. Dreyfuss plays the dead fascist dictator of the fictional paradise Parador (when he’s not played by Richard’s brother Lorin) and the method actor who replaces him at the helm so as not to upset the country’s power balance. The remake of the 1939 film The Magnificent Fraud, which was in turn based on an unpublished short story by Charles Gordon Booth, provides a meaty comedic playground for Dreyfuss, Raul Julia, and the supporting cast consisting of Sônia Braga, Dana Delaney, Jonathan Winters, and Fernando Rey.
It’s amiable light entertainment – and if we’re disappointed in Moon Over Parador it’s because we see this premise and this cast and expect, well, the moon. If I’m looking for a simple matinee pleasure fueled by actors too good for the material, I would never say no to Moon Over Parador.
“Bad Movies I Enjoy” Double Feature 1988 Pairing:
Young Einstein (Yahoo Serious, 1988). There’s very little to say about Young Einstein that could be considered positive. It’s labored, only intermittently funny, and suffers from a constant, tail-wagging desire to please everyone. You’ll manage a few smirks if not outright laughter. You’ll rate it 2 stars, but for whatever reason you’ll still be thinking about it a couple days later. You might even convince yourself that you might like to watch it again.
Son of a Tasmanian apple farmer, Albert Einstein (Yahoo Serious) discovers how to split the beer atom, thereby putting bubbles back into his flat beer. He travels to Sydney to strike a patent and meets the French beauty, Marie Curie. Then some bad dudes try to take advantage of our naïve hero and steal his invention. I enjoyed its Aussie “vibe” when I was a kid. As an adult, I just admit that it’s all utter, mindless nonsense… and yet I still can’t help but enjoy its easy going existence. If Matthew McConaughey was a 1980s Australian comedy, that comedy would be Young Einstein.
#Funny #Missed
