Customer Reviews

Brain Donors [VHS]

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anyone that enjoys fast in your face comedy like the Marx Brothers use to do should love it. This movie is based on the Marx Brother movie "A Night at the Opera". The Zucker brothers did a wonderful job of putting this all together. Great writing (by Pat Proft, George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskand, and James Kevin McGuinnes), cast (John Turturro, Bob Nelson, Mel Smith, George De La Pena, John Savidant, Nancy Marchand, and the rest), directing by Dennis Dugan, stunts, and music make this a hysterical romp. Fans of "Kung Pow! Enter the Fist", "Naked Gun", "Hot Shots!", or "Scary Movie" and their sequels should enjoy this movie. John Turturro is great as the off the wall leader in this zany comedy about swindling, ballet, and ambulance chasing. You will think he has a machine gun in his mouth since he rattles off jokes so fast it is hard to keep up. It may take a few viewings to catch all the jokes and sight gags, but you will be happy to sit through it many times. Even the opening and closings of the movie are comical, the claymation characters is a nice touch. I'm glad the studio finally wised up and are releasing this on DVD. I pre-ordered it because this is one of the funniest comedies out there. I'm really surprised it didn't get the recognition it deserves. If you enjoyed this movie, be sure to catch Mr. Deeds [Blu-ray].
CA Luster

I am so happy this has finally been released on DVD. I just played this movie on VHS for some friends of mine who had never seen it. I hadn't realized how many times I'd watched it. The tape was wearing out. You could see signs of age and use at the top of the screen while we watched it.

My friends loved it. They said they'd love to have if it ever came out on DVD. I hadn't looked in a while so we checked, and sure enough it had been released a few months before. So I was able to finally replace my aging VHS version.

This movie is hilarious. Literally every line in the movie is a joke, or a response to a joke. You have to see it at least 3 times to even come close to catching every joke and one liner. This movie is truly a comedic gem. I'm shocked at how few people have ever heard of it, nonetheless actually seen it.

If you love to laugh you'll love this movie. Give it a try. You'll be glad you did.

The last time I saw this movie was the first time I saw this movie.
I was stuck home, sick on a perfect Summer day like 12 or 13 years ago, b/c of which, I was in like the worst mood.
I was scanning channels and happened to catch this one from the beginning on HBO.
I think it was the beginning... I caught it during the scene where the lawyer was literally chasing an ambulance... it hooked me.

Keep in mind I was in the worst mood for being stuck at home sick.
This movie had me laughing the entire duration of it.
The only other two movies that have done this are The Party (starring Peter Sellers) and Caddyshack (starring Gopher).

Don't ignore this movie just b/c you haven't heard of it or b/c the name makes it sound stupid, it's totally worth watching.
If you want to laugh, this movie is for you, even if you're stubborn.

The reason I only saw it the one time was b/c I couldn't remember the name.
I've been trying to find it for years... finally, I decided to type in "slapstick movies" in Google.
http://www.littleman.com/movies/categories/movies-by-category-Slapstick-1-200306.html finally helped me find this movie again.

Have fun!

Don't believe anyone who thinks this was a turkey and went straight to video. (When the producers changed studios, their former studio dumped this.) It's actually a very, very funny comedy, with great dialogue (by Pat Proft) and spirited performances by John Turturro, Bob Nelson, Mel Smith, and Nancy Marchand. Standout scenes are the connecting-room routine, the contract scene, and the opening-night scene -- all inspired by The Marx Brothers but shown here with all-new gags. It may be too silly for some, but friends whom we've shown this to are still quoting from this picture.

I can't say much more than most of the other reviewers have! I caught this movie on cable by accident and spent the whole time rolling on the floor with tears in my eyes! The trick is to keep your mouth shut and LISTEN as the jokes come flying a mile a minute! The funny scenes are to many to list but I especially like the "hiding the girl from the boss" scene which is- like all the other sequences- perfectly executed. A laugh riot that is sure to leave you in stitches!It did me! For those of you that enjoyed this movie, You HAVE to see the film "Noises Off" (1992) w/ Michael Caine, John Ritter, and an all star cast of misfit actors in a play that goes horribly wrong! Enjoy!

"Brain Donors" is a very funny movie which does homage to the Marx Brothers in a modern setting. Watch it more than once to catch the many puns, verbal and visual. The mere thought of the ballet scene makes me smile.

As others have noted, this is a remake of "A Night at the Opera", with ballet instead of opera. It is breathlessly hilarious in the same way that it's inspriation was, but it is its own movie. You'll need to see it several times. It's very fast and you'll miss a lot the first few times.

One of the best? "You didn't expect me to see her in a sleezy motel did you? For God's sake, man, she was your WIFE"

There's a good reason why there have been so few attempts to copy the Marx Brothers. Not only did they do it the best but their particular brand of humour is so hard to pull off and do it well that what few attempts there have been have failed miserably. That didn't stop the Zucker brothers (of Airplane! and Naked Gun fame) from trying in 1992 with the underrated film, Brain Donors.

John Turturro, known more for his intense roles (Do the Right Thing, Mac) is cast wonderfully against type as the Groucho surrogate. Up until that point, only the Coen brothers had successfully tapped his comedic potential but not quite to the extent that he does in Brain Donors which allowed him to finally cut loose and show an unseen, wackier side. Roland is, literally, an ambulance chasing lawyer. You have to admire the balls the filmmakers have for showing Turturro actually running after an ambulance. He is still sporting his Barton Fink quaff-it's almost as if Fink finally went completely insane somewhere in Hollywood. Turturro's handling of a simple car accident that introduces his character is a wonderful bit of comedic timing as he motormouths his way through the scene, completely exploiting the situation.

And why not? Penned by Pat Proft (Bachelor Party, numerous Police Academy movies, Naked Gun), the script follows the Zucker Brothers' comedic philosophy of machine gun jokes: if you fire enough of them at the audience some are bound to work. Surprisingly, quite a few of them do (lines like, "These seats are dreadful! They're facing the stage." Roland tells an usher at the opera) and this is due in large part to how the dialogue is delivered, especially by Turturro who rarely seems to take a breath in the entire movie. He makes the film infinitely more watchable whenever he's on-screen.

In the end, Brain Donors plays out like a Marx Brothers highlight reel as it riffs on A Day at the Race, Duck Soup and Monkey Business to name a few but does so in an entertaining and engaging way. Fans of this underrated film can now finally enjoy it on DVD. Sadly, there are no extras. This is a shame-one would like to have seen an audio commentary by the filmmakers, but I guess the fact that it has even surfaced at all on DVD is a miracle.

With a dvd collection of well over 200 its tough for a VHS tape to remain on the shelf, but Brain Donors held thru till 2004 when they finally released this masterpiece on DVD. I highly reccomend this comedic gem to anyone that likes john tuturo and bob nelson. Nelson is at his greatest in this movie, and like always, Dennis Dugan comes through with a short cameo. (also directed Happy Gilmore)

Oh, what a film! My uncle sent this movie to me, and, after several viewings, I've found it to be the most laugh-out-loud funny movie I've ever seen. There are an amazing amount of "listen fast to catch that" funny moments - a movie that deserves a second or third viewing to catch the parts you missed. The first time I saw it, I missed at least a fifth of the gags because I was laughing so hard!! The movie rarely sags, and has a wonderful claymation introduction, and strangely appealing music.

Just for the benefit of the fans of this lovely movie, I'll recite a few of my favorite lines from the film, and see if I can bring a happy nostalgic smile to your face:

I hope I'm not arousing you, Laslow.

I can imagine... and you should be thankful you didn't go blind!

That wasn't you?

I think this is more in keeping... with things to come.

I love you all, but if you don't leave immediately, I'll have to kill you. Of course, I'll tell the police I did it out of love.

"You should go back to school." "I hated teaching!"

a psychotic cab driver?

Ok, that's enough for now, but I'm laughing just thinking about it right now... just for the record, my two other favorite comedies:

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles