Written by James M. Tate / 2/10/2014 / No comments / college , comedy , dan monohan , eighties , john hillerman , stephen furst , tim matheson
OTTER & FLOUNDER GO UP THE CREEK
year: 1984 rating: *** |
In FLETCH, Matheson looked somewhere in his late thirties, playing an established businessman. Here he's a broke, grungy college slacker and actually looks much younger than in FLETCH but way too old to be a student. But that's probably intentional: He's one of four buddies stuck in a nowhere university sent by John Hillerman's stuffy Dean on a river rafting race, a win garnering not only free degrees but a chance to defeat a quartet of jerky blonde dudes: UP THE CREEK spends the first half partying on land and the second trudging downriver. It's splendidly vapid entertainment most of the way through, providing terrific action shots along the roaring rapids while either the catchy Cheap Trick title track blares, or that theme's variation plays via triumphant orchestration.
Action Scene |
Slowing down the pace is gung ho military zealot, head of a rogue army troop initially hired to thwart the competition: Almost the entire final half centers on this unfunny jerk, especially after kidnapping one of the good guys. After a while you'll wonder what happened to the conceited preppies or their banal beauties (including REVENGE OF THE NERDS "That's My Pie" girl Julia Montgomery): Thus if UP THE CREEK stuck to the rapids and spent less time with unfunny rivals and a charade-playing pooch, it would be a far more satisfying venture. Instead, throughout many VHS-only years and finally Warner Archive DVD-available, CREEK remains in that cinematic purgatory of confusion: was it a failed commercial comedy or an intentionally corny cult flick all along? Either way, despite the flaws, this party still provides a fun, steady beat. To quote a Beatles track: "Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream..." Very sound advice!
Stephen Furst, Tim Matheson, Sandy Helberg and Dan Monahan in UP THE CREEK |
Tim Matheson with Jennifer Runyan in UP THE CREEK |
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