Search - National Lampoon's Movie Madness on DVD

Timothy B. (bat115) from BAKERSFIELD, CA
Reviewed on 1/30/2014...

If you love the 80s style of comedy. this is the movie for you. It is very underrated!

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

I quote Dr. Smith from the TV show 'Lost in Space'..."Oh, th

cookieman108 | Inside the jar... | 07/26/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"On the DVD case for National Lampoon's Movie Madness (1983) aka National Lampoon Goes to the Movies it states `The Film That Hollywood Doesn't Want You To See.'...and after watching it last night, I understood why...because it was truly awful...89 minutes of pure, cinematic Hell, following on the heels of their first, and most successful, film, Animal House (1978)...talk about the sophomore jinx. The film is made of a trio of stories, and features two directors, one in Bob Giraldi, whose main body of work following this film consists of Pat Benatar music videos, and Henry Jaglom (Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?). The cast features a whole bum load of actors I doubt would count this film among the highlights of their careers including Peter Riegert (Animal House), Candy Clark (American Graffiti), Diane Lane (Streets of Fire), Teresa Ganzel (The Toy), Ann Dusenberry (Jaws 2), Robert Culp ("The Greatest American Hero"), Joe Spinell (Losin' It), Fred Willard (Best in Show), Olympia Dukakis (Mr. Holland's Opus), Mary Woronov (Motorama), Dick Miller (Demon Knight), Elisha Cook Jr. (Salem's Lot), Henny Youngman (Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood), Julie Kavner (Radio Days), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Robby Benson (MXP: Most Xtreme Primate), and legendary actor Richard Widmark (Panic in the Streets, Warlock), whom I have a lot of respect for, and still do, but I couldn't help feel a little of it may have died last night...

As I mentioned earlier, the film is comprised of three parts, all supposedly spoofs on popular films or genres at the time. The first bit is titled `Growing Yourself', and features Peter Riegert as corporate lawyer who chucks his wife (Clark) out on the street, and then quits his job in order to `find' himself. In the process of doing so he opens a plant orphanage, dates a 14 year old model (Lane), loses a couple of his kids (I mean they actually wander off, never to be seen again), and so on...the only worthwhile aspect of this piece is when bosomy blonde Teresa Ganzel pops her top...the second bit is titled `Success Wanters' and features Ann Dusenberry as recent college graduate Dominique Corsaire, struggling to get a job, finally accepting a position as a stripper. After being victimized during a national butter council convention (she got butter banged), Dominique vows revenge, and does so by climbing the corporate ladder of a margarine company (eventually becoming president and CEO and crushing the butter industry), marries a wealthy Greek tycoon, and then becomes involved with the president of the United States (Willard), attaining the status of the most powerful woman in the world...all in the course of three days...this is intended to be a spoof of those films where a woman is wronged somehow, and carefully plots her revenge by spending years climbing and clawing her way to the top, strategically using , and then destroying those who done her wrong...the only worthy aspect of this piece is the numerous scenes of nekkidness featuring Ms. Dusenberry. The third and final bit is titled `Municipalians' and features Benson as an idealistic, naive rookie cop named Brent Falcone, partnered with the jaded, crusty veteran Stan Nagurski, played by Widmark, and tries to spoof the film The New Centurions (1972). While trying to track down a psycho killer (Lloyd), the rough and unforgiving streets transform Falcone into a hard and uncaring figure, much like his partner...there are no worthy aspects of this last piece, at least in the form of any nekkidness...

It's pretty rare I give out one or five star ratings as I like to reserve those for items truly deserving, and this is definitely one of those situations as this has to be one of the worst films I've seen in a long time, coupled with the fact that whoever was responsible for this dreck wasted a really strong cast of actors (with, perhaps, the exception being Robbie Benson, whom I've never really cared much for). That, in and of itself, is something I find offensive in the wasting of talent that could have been somewhere else, doing something much, much better. I was astounded that an organization like the National Lampoon, which prided itself on its ability to distill usually tasteless humor with regards to pop culture and politics in general, could spew forth something so awful in the wake of what would be its greatest achievement to date in that of Animal House. Seriously, the so-called comedy here is truly abysmal. There was a sense that the writers were trying to be smartly clever, cerebral and topical, but then this was contradicted by various scenes of nekkidness as if to say, `Look, we're smart, but we've haven't lost our sense of tackiness'. Universal Studios, sensing how truly awful the film was, actually shelved the film here in the states. It did get released in the UK (hey, it's not good enough for us, but those limeys will eat it up), possibly in an insidious effort to undermine American/British relations. You know, I can sit through almost any cinematic stink bomb and, at the very least, entertain myself with the sheer audaciousness of the levels of awfulness displayed, but here I just couldn't wait for the movie to end...are there worse things than an unfunny comedy? Sure, I suppose (being drawn and quartered seems like something I'd not want to have done to me) but really, there wasn't anything even mildly humorous about this movie...it stunk, it stunk on ice...

The picture on this DVD, provided both in widescreen (1.85:1), enhanced for 16 X 9 TVs, along with the pan and scan fullscreen format, looks clean and clear, and I had no complaints. The mono audio provided for the film wasn't as good, as some of the audio, specifically the dialog, felt very soft, compared to the musical score which came through much louder. The only extra on this DVD is an original theatrical trailer. You see, now this is a film where one might want to hear a commentary track only to learn what someone was thinking when they made the film...but that would mean having to watch the film for a second time, and once was more than enough for me...

Cookieman108

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Leonard Maltin is wrong!

06/08/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"What is wrong with him? The movie's not that bad. The last segment, Municipalians, is confusing sometimes, but it's also pretty funny. Fred Willard, Robby Benson, Robert Culp, and Barry Diamond are all awesome!! Besides, you get to see Ann Dusenberry naked, and that's almost worth the price right there. The first two segments are very good. Any fan of the National Lampoon should enjoy this."