“Soon I hope to take you on a Caribbean cruise, where we can hold hands on a soft summers evening and watch that old Jamaican moon. Why that old Jamaican will be mooning us, I have no idea.”-
-John Turturro, Brain Donors
These were the movies that had my brothers and I clicking rewind constantly, lines and scenes forever funny and original, no matter how many times we watched them. Even now at 40, I still laugh my ass off at them….we all should. In this world we live in now with so much heartbreak and tragedy, sarcasm and silliness are at a premium. These films were all made with the pure intention of laughter and will hopefully bring some levity to the seemingly overwhelming sadness that is encapsulating the planet right now. Love to Ukraine, genital warts to Putin.
Blankman 1994
Vintage Damon Wayans, who at the height of his stardom decided to make this silly movie spoofing Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns with ridiculousness perforating every scene. Fellow In Living Color castmate David Allen Grier is hilarious playing his older brother, attempting to keep him in reality as Wayans dons bulletproof pajamas and a sock mask in his quest to clean up the streets. With his only weakness’s being erections and awkward conversations, the jokes range from pithy one-liners to straight up 5th grade material that never get old, just like this film.
Just One Of The Guys 1985
The 1980’s were chock-full of coming-of-age tales involving teenage adolescence, i.e., Breakfast Club, Say Anything, Dead Poets Society, however none could match the awkward hilarity exhibited in this movie. Complete with the bully from Karate Kid, it is the tale of a prom-queen determined to be taken seriously as a journalist who decides to feign being a dude at a different school, proving the sexism at her former is a reality. Armed with her perverted 15-year-old brother Buddy as a guide to everything guy, she fools the masses and learns something about herself. Awww.
Vice Versa 1988
Most people remember Judge Reinhold from his supporting roles with Eddie Murphy as a cop, or as the high school senior with a view of the pool and Phoebe Cates. Why he was only given a lead role in this movie after all that, is a mystery to me. Complete with the kid from The Wonder Years cursing and drinking martinis, this father-son hypothetical nightmare showcases Reinhold’s chameleon like ability to act immature, with behavior that even now doesn’t seem that too far off the page to me.
BASEketball 1998
Before they decided to write a Tony award winning play that mocked an entire religion, the creators of South Park made a cult-classic that proved the legendary characters they invented and voiced were not misrepresentations of who they really are. A sports comedy about one that doesn’t exist, complete with legends Bob Costas and Al Michaels calling the action uncensored and psyche-outs used in driveway games of h-o-r-s-e still to this day. Steeeeeve Perry!!!
Summer School 1987
Growing up Nickelodeon’s Double Dare was a favorite. So was Courtney Thorne-Smith and making smart ass remarks to teachers. Mark Harmon plays a gym teacher headed to Hawaii for the summer who inadvertently gets blackmailed into teaching remedial English to a “festival of screw-ups” that includes two stoner horror film buffs, a nocturnal male stripper, an Italian exchange student hottie, a pregnant chick, a linebacker, a mouthy dyslexic, and a surfer girl with ADD and daddy issues. After getting popped for unauthorized field trips that frankly looked educational, his babysitting of social deviants becomes a personal mission to have them pass the basic skills test at summers end…or he loses tenure, and they remain illiterate. Pinnacles of careers for all involved including a much thinner, less unhinged from reality, Kirstie Alley.
Club Dread 2004
The boys of Broken Lizard were pioneers in the field of idiocy with Super Troopers and Beerfest, but their true masterpiece of stupidity was a mythical tropical resort run by Bill Paxton who was parodying himself from Titanic, as an extremely dumb, self-absorbed, pirate rock star with possible homosexual tendencies and a clear pension for saying obnoxious, funny things. Add Farva, some well-placed nudity and a spoof of every horror film ever made, and you’ve got a piece of shit movie that never tires.
I Spy 2002
Two very big actors in a little know flick that may be the best comedic performance of eithers illustrious careers. Owen and Eddie star in the spy spoof that was trashed by critics, hailed as ridiculous and made no money at the box office, proving once again that people don’t know shit about anything. Murphy’s portrayal of boxer Kelly Robinson, 57-0, is as good as Axel in Beverly or Akeem in America. Combined with Wilson’s affinity for innocent sarcasm and witty comebacks, the duo has more than a few great moments in this film, coming to crescendo with an impromptu therapy session in a sewer somewhere in Budapest.
Back to School 1986
Once upon a time when Ironman was a college freshman, his roommate turned out to be the son of big and tall clothing mogul, Thornton Melon. A self-made man with little formal education but predatorial like ability in the world of fashion and high finance played by the legendary Rodney Dangerfield, decides after his second failed marriage to join his son at school, where he promptly finds out he’s a failure and liar to boot. Proving that money always talks, he simultaneously enrolls as the university’s oldest freshman ever and breaks ground on its new business school he funded, has an affair with his English professor, pimps a dorm room out into a penthouse, then wins a collegiate diving event with a maneuver including both the platform and springboards.
Brain Donors 1992
The greatest movie John Turturro ever did that no one knows about. He plays an ambulance chasing lawyer, who at one time represented in a fender-bender, an elderly now widowed heiress whose husband’s last wish was to start a ballet company. The one-liners and absurdity in situations that accompany them for 90 minutes climaxes with ballet history, the pranks and stunts seemingly dreamt up by some genius 8th grader but played out on screen by a golden globe nominated actor. The plot of this movie is pointless, the goal cheap laughs constantly and its legacy a never-ending remedy to the unavoidable sadness we all face in life. Even if the laughter is fleeting, it’s still laughter. Long live Roland T. Flakfizer, attorney at law.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpzj9p
For Wes, Griff and Rye
The Modern Renaissance Man 
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