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| year: 1981 cast: Chevy Chase, Patty D'Arbinville, Dabney Coleman |
Chevy Chase is an Air Traffic Controller (
not on strike while surrounded by incompetents, a then-timely protesting-satire of Ronald Reagan's refusal to give in to a controversial strike); he's having serious troubles and/or... MODERN PROBLEMS...
First off, his convertible's been keyed. But that's nothing compared to the nuclear waste spilled from a truck...
Thus allowing him to move things at will derived from the frustration of his girlfriend leaving: Herein the orchestrated physical gags are balanced along with Chase's usual/signature deadpan humor, only more-so than usual: the poor guy's downright depressed...
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| Modern Problems Rates: ***1/2 |
So his that glib and subtle, conceited sarcasm is nowhere in sight. Which wouldn't fit much anyway, and why PROBLEMS (a plot that'd neon-green morph teenagers in ZAPPED! the following year) isn't a quotable classic like CADDYSHACK, VACATION or FLETCH... In fact it's pretty much forgotten...
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| Chevy Chase driving home in Modern Problems |
Yet the story's more important than strategic laughs: And before he gets those table-turning powers (while making goofy facial expressions straight from an SNL Weekend Update skit, only to move the plot): Chevy's character is a victim of circumstance connected to everyone including his crippled friend (a completely unnecessary Brian Doyle Murray); a friendly ex-wife (Mary Kay Place); an ex-girlfriend dating a guy who makes Liberace seem like John Wayne
; a famous, despicable self-help author played by Dabney Coleman as his usual jerk-guy mode; and a voodoo-spouting maid ala Nell Carter before her big television break on GIMME A BREAK....
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| Patti D'Arbanville and Chevy Chase in Modern Problems |
Then when the inevitable revenge occurs with irresponsible glee, it's old school, slapstick-inspired entertainment. But act three, at his buddy's summer beach house along with invited guests/all the ensemble side-cast assembled, Chevy's mystical spells go overboard: Leaving the characters, and audience, to
deal with those quirky once-sporadic
gifts instead of enjoying them...
Although what MODERN PROBLEMS is mostly remembered for is (highlighted in the trailers) a snorting of something more powerful than cocaine, and may possibly be a nod to the still-living, hard-partying John Belushi or perhaps just a way of saying farewell to the anything-goes 1970's in which white powder was the rocket fuel for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE and its related cast-starring movies... Leaving one with nothing left to say but... "IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII LIKE IT!"
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| Tell you what... Basically, THIS is about how funny MODERN PROBLEMS is... |
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| Perhaps the greatest coolest damn movie font of all time, the glow-green of Modern Problems |
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| What the above title sequence becomes, the glowing nuclear neon... The movie's okay... The Font is Awesome... |
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| Nell Carter and Space Invaders in MODERN PROBLEMS |
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| Chevy Chase in MODERN PROBLEMS |
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| Dabney Coleman in MODERN PROBLEMS |
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| A little bit of what they give back to the audience was a lot of what these guys lived for |
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| Mary Kay Place, Chevy Chase and Patty D'Arbanville in MODERN PROBLEMS |
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| Chevy Chase and Mary Kay Place in MODERN PROBLEMS |
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| Sandy "Work on your Puts" Helberg in MODERN PROBLEMS |
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| Patti D'Arbanville and mannequin from MODERN PROBLEMS |
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| Underrated beauty Mary Kay Place in MODERN PROBLEMS |
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