Customer Reviews

Mr. Accident

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Please note that on all of the films of Yahoo Serious, the reviewers' evaluations seesaw to the extremes. That is because you either hate or love this kind of humor -- there is no middle road. Inspired insanity just isn't for everyone. I and the rest of my family LOVE these movies. And Mr Accident was the best! The scene with the avalanche had us falling off the chairs laughing. And the insouciant flipping open of egg cartons to offer one (you have to watch the movie to see why this is done -- I won't tell) is just too funny. SEE THIS FILM!

I have learned that with Yahoo Serious you need to be patient. Sometimes it takes a while to get the humor behind what he is doing as was the case with his last film Reckless Kelly. The first time I watched it I don't think I laughed more than once but over the next few years I watched it again and again (because I really liked his first movie Young Einstien) and it grew on me more and more. Now it is one of my favorite movies. Well with this one (Mr. Accident) I can't really say if I like it yet but the first and only time I watched it I only laughed a few times. Perhaps I should have waited to write this review. Maybe I can update it in two years...?

You have to know when you're going into a Yahoo Serious comedy that you're going to get some really goofy stuff. Even the more subtle social satire that he loves to weave into his movies can go unoticed by some people, or get lost in the silly antics of the physical comedy. But, I still find his stuff entertaining and his somewhat "stupid" plots that stretch the imagination are actually refreshing over much of the predictable Hollywood stuff these days. Who would have thought of an evil CEO putting tobacco in chicken feed in order to get people addicted to eggs?!? Well, Yahoo did, and it's fun to see how he plays it out in his own quirky way. Love it, hate it, just don't take it too seriously and you might have a lot of fun...

Anyone should be able to comprehend and love this brilliant film. My nine year old daughter even thought so.
Australian Master of Slapstick Disaster delivers a golden egg. Inventive and surrealistic sets, superb lighting, slick dialogue, (of course the usual poke at how ridiculously serious we are as a society) and overall ingenius execution make this one of my top two movies of all time.
It's a shame this artist doesn't get the kudos he deserves...ah, well, you have to enjoy life and have the ability to laugh at yourself to appreciate this film. It's too bad most of us can't....

This movie is one of my all time favorite comedies. And it's peculiar in the sense that it gets funnier to me as it ages in my mind. I have to be honest, however, and admit that I am a sheer sucker for slapstick comedy. What adds to it is the childlike heart of Yahoo (I forgot his name in the movie) as he goes through all these ridiculous happenings in his life, not having so much as a clue to their absurdity. Keep them coming, Yahoo... we love em!

You might choke from laughing so hard. This is a SCREAMINGLY funny movie. The screenplay is funny, the dialogue is funny, the characters are hilarious, even the sets and costumes are funny. You'll never look at eggs (or hub caps) the same way again. I got a pain from laughing. Yahoo Serious makes seriously funny films. If you haven't seen "Reckless Kelly" and "Young Einstein" get them too. As usual in a Yahoo Serious movie he is MUCH prettier than his leading lady. Bring along your sense of the absurd and you'll love this.

Probably one of the most demented comedy films I've seen to date! Style of slapstick, obvious humor reminded me of the old "Ernest" movies I loved as a child.

It's almost a shame that Yahoo Serious only made three films. Unfortunately there's only so much of a market for his style of slapstick comedy. I have a feeling that if he weren't the one writing/directing and producing all his pictures there would have been more than just the three. His third film Mr. Accident was released about seven years after Reckless Kelly and more than a decade after his biggest hit Young Einstein.

This time around Yahoo plays Roger Crumpkin, he comes from a long line of parts people. At an early age he gives up on imagination (surprising based on his wardrobe) and dedicates his life to parts or more specifically taking things apart. Somehow he lands himself a job as a maintenance guy at a local egg factory, though it is surprising he keeps the gig based on his propensity for destroying things. This fact means nothing seeing as his job is basically a plot device to keep the story going and actually means nothing. As typical in Serious' movies it's just there for opportunities for prat falls and sight gags.

The story, in a nutshell, is that the brother of the head of the egg factory takes over and has a clandestine plan to make eggs addictive by feeding tobacco to the chickens. While this is all going on Roger is trying to start a relationship with a woman who has a propensity for fixing things (see they're perfect for each other), but he doesn't know that she's the ex of his now boss. So basically up to Roger to take down the big bad boss and save himself, his flatmate, his new girl and the world from the evil plan. Will he succeed? A betting man would say no, but seeing as this is basically a romantic comedy you already know he wins.

None of that is even all that important anyway, as with the other Serious films you're on board for the physical humor and the sight gags and trust me, there's plenty. There's big butt humor, addiction humor, things falling apart, Roger setting about rube goldbergian like series of events that usually end in someone covered in some thick liquid or with his apartment filled with feathers and filling with water. There are more than enough crotch shots and of course the awkward attempts of Crumpkin to pick up chicks at a bar.

Mr. Accident may be Serious' most sincere picture, but I just can't get past the man's hair. I get that it's a reoccurring theme of the man's work, but in Mr. Accident it's way out of control and it distracts from the jokes and fails to enhance them, like in Young Einstein. Regardless though, Mr. Accident is a fun flick and I think if you're afraid to commit to 90 minutes of Yahoo Serious alone, invite some friends over and make a night of it. It's a great flick to make fun of.

7 out of 10


If you liked this or would like to see the full review with funny pictures and captions and all that other "professional" looking stuff feel free to visits my blog where this review is posted

[...]

In part, this film is a slapstick comedy in the spirit of the classic silent comedies, Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges, for example. But, it's also a satire on the extreme lengths businesses sometimes resort to to increase their sales, as well as on the too frequent narrow mindedness of parents and others in discouraging imaginative activities in kids and adults. It's also a love story between two wacky, largely brainless, people. Hellen Dallimore, as Sunday Valentine, is perfect as the cute cuddly moll of the boss of the egg processing plant, who discovers she has much more in common with Roger Crumpkin, Mr. Accident, despite his pathological clumsiness and Obsessive Compulsive Dismantling Fixation. North American audiences probably won't get the humour that the egg processing plant has been built in place of the famous bizarre-looking Sydney opera house, only one end of which remains to identify it. The rest of the roof has been reconstructed into several gigantic eggs that dwarf the original opera house. My favorite gag: the self-folding pull out couch bed, with occupant included.
I wish this film could be redone, making fuller use of the comedic potential of the main ingredients, deleting scenes that are not important to the main story line or not funny, and ending with a much more meaningful basis of attachment between Roger and Sunday. For example, the side effects of the addictive nicotine-laced eggs could have been played up more. In addition to suddenly becoming smokers, everyone could have started chewing and spitting tobacco. The egg tycoon suddenly becomes a spitton manufacturer, even selling several to the League Against Tobacco.
Sunday Valentine mostly plays a passive role in Roger's furthur misadventures. She could have played a much more active role in the comedy in the later part of the film. For example, she could have been obsessed with putting mechanical and electrical parts together in novel, but mostly ridiculous, contraptions. Thus, she would perfectly complement Roger, with his Obsessive Compulsive Dismantling Fixation and provide some real glue for their relationship. Eventually, she would come up with an important invention, using parts dismantled by Roger, that provides a happy ending. This could be tied into the flying saucer-hub cap aspect of the story, which is left rather undeveloped, despite its repeated appearance from time to time. For example, little green men from a Jupiter moon could have landed looking for their lost hub cap for their landing gear. They find it as a crucial part of a pertutual motion dynamo designed by Sunday that is supplying electricity for the egg plant. Engineers can't duplicate this invention because the hub cap is made of a metal that doesn't exist on earth. The space visitors sample some of the eggs while recovering their hub cap, making them feel euphoric. They want lots more eggs. Roger and Sunday offer to trade eggs for more hub caps and they agree. These are used to light up the whole city. The aliens fly off to bring back more hub caps, to light up the whole country. Meanwhile, the FDA has banned the sale of the nicotine-laced eggs. Thus, the trade of such eggs for hub caps also saves the egg company from bankrupcy. Any takers?

I've always been a fan of unusual, slapstick style movies. Despite its flaws, I still consider Young Einstein to be hilarious. With that in mind I purchased Mr. Accident, thinking I was in for another under-rated treat. I was wrong. This movie is just bad.

The plot is vague at best, involving a maniacal businessman trying to get the world hooked on his 'special' eggs. There's some sub-plot about aliens that was ridiculously unnecessary and doesn't really go anywhere. I suspect it was thrown in simply to eat screen time. The humor feels forced, there's no real chemistry between Yahoo and his supposed love interest and most of the actors (including Yahoo) appear to be just going through the motions.

The only bright point I noticed in this otherwise boring film was watching David Field as the main antagonist. He played his over-the-top killer/maniacal businessman role perfectly. Think Richard Grant in Hudson Hawk. Only shorter and angrier. The few times I laughed were during scenes he was in. Unfortunately it was far too little to save this wretched film.

Avoid this movie. It's just not worth watching.