Customer Reviews

Meatballs

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Update: Just received mine last week (6/14/07) and it is ONE disc, not two. Picture quality is BEAUTIFUL! The night scenes are actually not one big black blob!

Just an update on the 2007 2-disc Special Edition of Meatballs, since Amazon is not providing any information and all the reviews on this page deal with the less than stellar previous dvd release. The 2007 Special Edition is digitally remastered in Widescreen 1.85:1 Color (Anamorphic). It is in 5.1 Dolby Digital Stereo [CC] and it features subtitles in English, Spanish and French.

DVD Features:
- Commentary with Director Ivan Reitman
- "Summer Camp: The Making of Meatballs" Featurette

Amazingly, no theatrical trailer is included. Also available in Blu-Ray.

Technical Specs:
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 - Digitally Re-mastered
- Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1

This is one of my favorite movies from childhood, and I still love it (I'm now 27).

Bill Murray is terrific as head counselor Tripper Harrison in this warm and funny feel-great movie. All of the players in the ensemble cast are good, and the music is also really effective. If you like summer, good times, goofy humor, if you were born in the seventies (or even if you weren't) check out "Meatballs". It's a great way to spend a Friday evening--make something strange for a midnight snack and put on "Meatballs".

As for the DVD transfer, here are a couple of comments:

1. It does include the trailer. 2. It's a "matted" widescreen version, which means you actually see less than you do on the full-screen VHS version, because they simply lay black bars across the top and bottom of the full-screen image (I compared the two versions scene-to-scene). 3. For some reason, some of the music has been changed in the DVD version. I found this unfortunate, because the music is one of my favorite parts of the movie. Whenever the song "Meatballs" plays, for instance, an alternate version is played. Also, the "Makin' It" song at the "big social" scene is cut differently.

Aside from these few complaints, I'll still give the disc five stars, because I love the movie so much.

As a person who spent many of my summers at camp I found this movie to be excellent. It also doesn't hurt that this movie stars Bill Murray...one of my favorites. I've owned this movie on VHS for many years now and have watched it numerous times. I just bought the DVD and noticed that the actual song titled "Meatballs" (originally written and performed by Rick Dees) is different than it is on the VHS version. The DVD version is actually sung (or more like halfway spoken/rapped) by Bill Murray himself. There is also about ten seconds of footage added at the end of the cafeteria scene that isn't on the VHS. Not much, but to a fan of the movie it's kind of cool. I wish the DVD had more features on it (like deleted scenes), but none the less this is still probably the best camp movie you could ask for.

Murray's interactions with the boy are so good that I used excerpts from the film for a final exam on basic counseling I taught at a graduate school - the students had to identify the techniques used by Tripper and suggest alternatives. This may be a far more educational portrayal of counseling than any of the wierd therapist-involved movies Hollywood has produced over the past decade.

Beyond all that, this is a film of good-natured humor that has sympathy for its characters. Among the very best things that Bill Murray ever did.

And where is Tripper today when we need him?

Meatballs is Bill Murray's best comedy next to Stripes. He is lovable and funny as Tripper and he plays the character of Head Counselor with such tender affection and humor that it makes you wish you had a guy just like him in your troop as a youngster! The music is fun and memorable (especially the last song, ARE YOU READY FOR THE SUMMER) and having spent three summers myself as a head camp counsellor, I can relate completely to the antics, jokes and competitions within this group of goofballs. I even played this tape at a sleepover at my camp once and it went over really well! Excellent comedy entertainment!

I remember summer camp very well, arriving there and hating it instantly,then as the days and weeks go by you get used to it and start to enjoy it. Meatballs is a perfect reflection of this, it's fun and Bill Murray never lets us down being the true comic genius, he talks to the campers on their level instead of talking down to them, he is basically a kid at heart himself. My favorite part was the summer olympics.Who can forget those at the end of camp? This movie never gets to out of hand, the scenes of competition are hilarious, the campers, though some are bratty, make a lot of people identify with them when they were young. I am not going to even acknowledge the following sequels they made to this film, Meatballs 2,3 and 4? Whatever, after the first one the rest became just a bunch of idiotic raunchy sophmoric teen flicks. If you want something a little more realistic and to just have a good time, this is the one worth watching.

I love this movie, and did when I first saw it as a kid. Upon repeated viewings, I miss actors like Chris Makepeace, along with the humanity that Bill Murray's character displays. Though this movie is funny, and fun to watch, what gets to me now is the vibe or the undercurrent of the film. It has a gentle quality (human) that you practically never see in movies of the last 20 years or so. Along with 'My Bodyguard', I think Chris Makepeace (nearly) created a type of character that came and went very quickly, just like his acting career, and yet, to those of us who remember him, left an indelible impression. Although it might sound stupid, nostalgic, and sentimental, I'm glad he (and 'Meatballs') did what he did, the way that he did it. As someone who got picked on a lot as kid, I KNOW just what his characters were feeling, and what it's like to have a Tripper-like father figure to watch out and protect you. For these reasons, this is my favorite Bill Murray movie, and definitely worth owning.

Meatballs is a comedy about a second rate summer camp that is made up of assorted losers, geeks and such. The movie concludes with an oympics against the rival camp that is a state of the art facility made up of rich and privileged kids. The movie brings out all the classic cliches, sex jokes and David vs. Goliath situations. The movie gets away with this due to its charm. The characters are all likeable and seem like real kids. This was Bill Murray's first movie and he shines in the film. He plays Tripper the head counselor at the camp and the movie's opening scene which has him addressing the camp counselors over the P.A. system is classic Murray. He more or less carries the movie and his just doesn't matter rant at the end of the film has become semi-famous. Meatballs isn't the finest moment of Mr. Murray's career, but it definitely shows he had the goods to be a major comedic film star.

Meatballs is the sincere story of a group of plucky, rebellious "Counselors in Training" (or CITs, as they are known) at Camp North Star who live and learn, and learn to live with each other and the Head Counselor known as "Tripper". Unfortunately for them, "Tripper" is played by Bill Murray in his first starring role and he dominates the picture from the get-go.

For those who didn't grow up watching this film, it can be broken down into two equations;

Murray = Funny
No Murray = Not So Funny

Murray is turned loose in several scenes, such as the campfire story, the "wrestling" with Roxanne, and most insanely the "It Just Doesn't Matter" speech. To the point were you can see other actors crack up when Murray takes off. He simply takes the reigns of the movie and makes it a classic.

The CITs who are the "heart" of the film are a likable lot, though none of them really stands out. They spend little time with the kiddies it seems and lots of time horsing around, so it must be a great life they have.

Chris Makepeace is a real find as he's sympathetic without a trace of cuteness, which I thought was impossible for any young actor who's name is not Ron Howard. He went on to star in "My Bodyguard".

As for the "Special Edition" of the DVD itself, I was disappointed. The movie is presented in faux-widescreen, which is to say full screen with the top & bottom chopped off with a black band to give the illusion of widescreen. And the transfer itself is not half as good as the version I DVRed' on Showtime recently. And the audio commentary by director Ivan Reitman & screenwriter Daneil Goldberg is pretty bad when they go off-track and can't remember simple details. But the three documentary shorts are informative and well made. While I expected Bill Murray to pass, it was nice to see "Roxanne" (Kelly Lynch), "Spaz" (Jack Blum), "Fink" (Keith Knight), & "Rudy" (Chris Makepeace) talk about the film.

I dock this classic one star for the poor presentation and another star for the faux-widescreen of the film. Given that, I expect the "30th Anniversary Edition" (no doubt set for 2009) to be superior in every way, too bad we have to wait a while for it.

Tidbits:

- The comic Chris Makepeace is reading when Tripper prepares for the overnight is the Marvel Two-In-One #50: Thing vs. Thing. I know, I used to own it.

- I understand where the nickname "Hardware" comes from, but what about "Wheels"? And speaking of "Wheels", he's played by Todd Hoffman, the younger bother of Dustin Hoffman.

- When Tripper burps out, "Oh, really...really" and puts his hand to his face, it's an homage to Jack Benny.

- During the basketball game "Fink" takes a basketball to the back of his head and drops something which remains on the court. Can't be a cell phone, probably a candy bar.

- Tripper & Roxanne singing in the canoe is taken straight from a scene in the Marx Brothers' "Horsefeathers", although the song they sing is different.

- Other than the CITs, we see three male counselors, but where are the female counselors?

Are you ready for the summer!!! This movie is an all time classic with Bill Murray!! This is a movie you can watch over and over and never get sick and tired of!!! By the way, the other three so called sequels to Meatballs Sucks!!!