Nothing But Trouble
by Dan Aykroyd
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DVD details
Actor: Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Demi Moore, John CandyDirector: Dan Aykroyd
Brand: Warner Brothers
Writer: Dan Aykroyd
Producer: Robert K. Weiss
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 94 minutes
Published: 1998-11-01
DVD Release Date: 1998-11-10
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Nothing But Trouble
DVD Review: The Sorry, Sad and Ugly Yet Perversely Addictive Head-Shaker
Summary: 2 Stars
It's always: how to come down on this one? Is this film an unbelievably schlocky, poorly acted, horribly scripted, under-budgeted, lamely produced film striving for transcendent comedy? Or is it the blackest of black humor, the wacky, loopy side of mass murder and extra-judicial killing a la Eating Raoul? I just dunno, but every time this thing pops on cable I'm there for the duration. Before I know it the end titles roll and I'm confused and conflicted, and giddy that it's over.
First, Chevy Chase as the headlining straight man? After his best in Caddyshack and Fletch? It's like director Aykroyd is setting him up for failure, and Chase appears to bristle at it through the entire film.
For historical novelty we've got the pre-"Deh-Mee" Moore, back when she was normal, even attractive, despite that horrible pasty-white makeup they've piled on her, somehow missing her neck, shoulders and chest. Her off-white outfit is just as nonsensical, with those so stupid post-80s half-heeled pumps, the lame semi-formal dress shorts, and the faux country club halter.
And then there's John Candy as a self-loathing deputy somehow turned hero, as well as mute drag-queen. His incarnation as Eldona is the only interesting character in the whole film. His Dennis character finds escape with the tacky Latins to Brazil, but what of redemption? What of his direct and knowing complicity in the hundreds of extra-judicial murders over the years? Does the fact that he leaves Aykroyd and Demi to their fates compromise his redemption?
Who other than me notices early in the film, after that excruciatingly lame, low-budge, non-high-speed chase that beautiful southeastern California landscape through which they tour? Note the dry creek beds, the eucalyptus trees, the barren brown mountains in the distant sunset background--this is New Jersey? And on they travel, through the desert scrub, the pinon pines, down the dry washes and through the beautifully wooded vales that I remember so well as the bucolic Hazzard County of yore. Awful.
Okay, a forgotten "shire" in "rural" New Jersey, just off the interstate between NYC and Atlantic City, where a coal fire has been burning for decades? Who thought up this garbage, and what producers swallowed it? Check the facts; NJ doesn't produce coal.
And what's with the Rube Goldberg house, the slides the go and go but still end up in the house? Who loads the traps and maintains them? What are the piles of bones doing in the house? Why are they all femurs? Where are the humerusses, the ulnas, the scapulae?
Note the young and thankfully dialog-less Tupac, and the so unfairly busted Digital Underground homies. It's clear in this overly long vignette that the DU's label coughed up plenty so the band could badly lip-sync their hit. And just like in Doctor Detroit and The Blues Brothers, Aykroyd can't pass up the opportunity to show us how terribly down he is with black music culture by having his feeble and shaky-handed JP suddenly belt out a wicked-cool organ solo as the video bimbos paw him like he was wearing a suit made of cocaine and cash. Puh-leeze.
And then there're the two mutant diaper-babies, Li'l Debbull and Bobo (one of them is Aykroyd), so obviously latex bodysuits, utterly unlikable and truly grotesque. Are they supposed to be cute, the lovably disgusting successors to Sloth in The Goonies? Are we to feel some kind of deep moral dilemma of whether we should like them or not? They're filthy, neglected, with full, sagging diapers. They're both clearly clinical morons, and have been left to fend for themselves in the junkyard, which says a great deal about the overall Valkenvania approach to child-rearing.
And finally, Aykroyd. This was his first and only directing effort, and you can tell why. There have been many interviews in which he's laid blame on the script, upon the unwillingness of the producers to give him what he wanted, the subtle shots at the actors and their performances (he's top-billed), and even the fact that the working title of "Valkenvania" was not used as the release title. Yeah, like these were reasons this film tanked.
And, please, someone, what is with the JP's nose? Just what in the name of St. Alfonso's pancake breakfast is that thing all about? Is it just a really, really bad sight gag, or is thee some kind of deeply mystical significance that is escaping me?
And at the end we are caught in the big joke, that all of New Jersey law enforcement knows about Valkenvania and have been in on the grand conspiracy for years, apparently fully aware of the JP's extra-judicial killings. As they swarm the building, it's sadly right out of "Blues Brothers," the only thing missing is the troopers yelling "Hut, hut, hut, hut!" as they advance clumsily all over the compound.
There is one thing I like, though: the shot where fleeing Demi is in the forest of scrapped Mr. Muffler signs. Their sheer size, grinning faces, outstretched arms devoid of their beloved oversized car parts is some very nice composition, surreal, eerie and menacing, highly reminiscent of Tim Burton's nod in Mars Attacks! to the unplugged glamour and glory of the old Glitter Gulch in Vegas when he has Danny DeVito, Tom Jones, Jim Brown, and Annette Benning flee through the marquee graveyard.
Bottom line: this film seems to be an interesting black comedy concept which somehow took on a life of its own. It's a last-gasp 80s kind of thing, with Aykroyd going so obviously back to wells which have been emptied already, by him and prior co-stars. Overall, it's a serious stinker, but it's still got enough wacky train-wreck mojo to pull me in, every single flippin' time.
Description of Nothing But Trouble
Get spooked silly when Chevy Chase and Demi Moore take a wrong turnpike exit and find "hanging judge" Dan Aykroyd and "constable" John Candy in a bizarre New Jersey burg. Year: 1990 Director: Dan Aykroyd Starring: Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Demi Moore, John CandyBestsellers in DVD
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