Customer Reviews

One Crazy Summer [VHS]

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

One Crazy Summer is not a serious film; it's a comedy with a cartoonish style, but it's a wonderful example of what such an exaggeratedly wacky movie should be. Starting on the foundation of the basic 1980s screwball comedy, it transcends the other B movies of that genre with its characters and its own unique laugh-out-loud moments.

Bobcat Goldthwait in particular steals the show as Egg Stork, but he's still there to back up the main character Hoops McCann (John Cusack), whose own cartoon creations--the cute and fuzzy bunnies--are determined to thwart his quest to find love. The standard '80s comedy elements come into play with Cassandra (Demi Moore), who's trying to save her grandfather's house from a nasty stereotype villain who wants to build a lobster restaurant in its place. Everything seems to click pretty well in the movie; it doesn't have any dull spots and the humor stays pretty fresh even at a second and third viewing. It's become one of my perennial favorites.

There are some especially worthwhile moments, mostly due to Bobcat's wonderful zaniness. The Godzilla scene alone makes the movie memorable. The cartoons drawn by Cusack's character appear now and then to illustrate how his search for love is going; those cute and fuzzy bunnies are vicious.

Parents take note: This is family fare; feel free to watch it with your kids. There's nothing really objectionable in the movie, and Demi stays dressed for a change. It's plenty funny without being raunchy, which is fairly refreshing. If you like a good top-of-the-line goofy B movie as much as I do, One Crazy Summer belongs in your collection. I can't wait for it to appear on DVD.

This is the follow up movie by "Savage" Steve Holland to his 1985 movie -- "Better Off Dead." I have to admit that of the two, "Better Off Dead" is the one I like more, but "One Crazy Summer" certainly has it's moments.

In this film John Cusack plays a newly graduated HS student who never met his folks' expectations as a basketball player. All he really wants to do is to go to art school. In order to get a break from his folks he takes off with his buddy for a summer on Nantuckett. There he meets up with a young Demi Moore who is trying to find a way to save her granfather's home. Thus, the set-up.

Cusack is looking for love, but can never seem to find it. Teen trauma if ever there was one. With that all brewing in the background we meet a suite of characters who make the show flow along, and who provide lots and lots of comic relief.

You'll love the Stork twins and Ack-Ack, and you'll love to hate Teddy, an incredibly spoiled brat, and Teddy's equally detestable father.

It's a good-guy bad guy movie, almost a melodramatic comedy.

Scenes to watch for include: Godzilla invades the tea-party; Cusack at the drive-in with Cookie; and the yacht race.

There's a lot of silliness in this film, but it's great fun. A completely enjoyable experience! Pairing this film with "Better Off Dead" would make a great offering for a video party. They are fun and watchable!

4 star films, but with a 5 star punch.

Have fun!

Alan Holyoak

Holy cow, do I love this movie. "Look! The craziness!"

This is one of those movies that played endlessly on HBO, and I remembered it quite fondly. One day I threw it in the VCR and surprised myself by laughing almost nonstop through the whole thing.

Sure, it seems a cookie-cutter comedy from the eighties, and it is, but look! the craziness!

The brilliance of the movie is how it's situations keep slowly escalating into pure comic insanity. Sure everybody remembers Bobcat Goldthwait rampaging in a Godzilla costume, but the seeds for the scene were presented about fifteen minutes ago and there was an uninterrupted continuity that took us from there to here. This is pretty amazing for a "cookie-cutter" comedy.

Really, it's this sense of mayhem that keeps bringing me back to the movie. Mayhem. That's what I want out of comedies, and this is one of its epitomes. This and GREMLINS 2.

But who cares about that? This movie brings the funny. What more could you ask for? No thanks to all the cute and fuzzy bunnies in the world.

I enjoyed this film more than Better Off Dead. It has a peculiar logic not seen in John Hughes' teen comedies.John Cusak wallowing in his "artistic self misery" is taken to Nantucket island for a holiday. Here he meets the Stork twins (Bobcat Goldthwaite and his identical(?) 6'4" twin) and the evil supercilious A+ crowd. Scattered throughout a fairly predictable plot of coming-of-age wisdom and redemption are truly insane characters and moments. I could watch this film over and over savouring the loopy characters, animation breaks and the ridiculous situations - the mechanical giant dolphin with rabies, Ack Ack's power crazy scoutmaster Dad, Uncle listening to the radio waiting to win money and his final revenge and the dangerously unpredictable Stork twin Egg.Cusak is delightfully restrained and uncomfortable in these situations. Demi Moore is bland as a hippy folk singer.

This is a film that is more than a sum of its parts and if you think 16 candles was the best Hughes movie watch this picture. It's left field but it's worth it.

This is one of the craziest movies I've ever seen, and in my opinion this movie is better than "Better Off Dead"(Savage Steve Holland's previous flick). This film stars the wonderful John Cusack as Hoops McCann, a struggling cartoonist who takes a trip to Nantucket to visit his relatives. Once there he meets an oddball group of characters. His cousin, George (Joel Murray--brother of Bill Murray) , is a simple-minded guy and the best looking one out of his group of nerdy friends. George's family is even crazier than his friends are, with a wacky grandmother and a sinister little sister and her flea-ridden dog. His uncle Frank is a virtual recluse who sits by the radio all day trying to win the same contest he's been trying to win for years. Ack Ack Raymond is the smallest guy out of the bunch and the wimpiest. Ack Ack's father is a gung-ho boyscout leader and ex-marine, thus there's a conflicting relationship between him and his father. Dont worry Ack Ack gets medieval later in the movie; this guy also played "Booger" on Revenge of the Nerds. Then theres the Stork twins, Clay and Egg Stork; the latter is played by Bobcat Goldthwait, you know, the guy from police academy who talks funny.

These guys come up against Teddy Beckersted, a snobby young man, and his rich developer father, and their socialite friends. They are trying to take away the home of Casandra (Demi Moore), an aspiriing singer, so they can build their condos on the property. Throughout the movie these two groups are constantly pulling pranks on each other, that finally culminates in a regatta sail ship contest, in which the boys get their own boat and fix it up. Get ready for a funny surprise at the end of this race. At the same time Hoops develops a romance with Casandra. Add to this movie numerous interludes of bizarre cartoons with devilish animated bunny rabbits. This movie is very corny but very funny too. This is the type of movie you can just sit back to and enjoy all the wackiness. In my opinion Uncle Frank steals the show, especially at the end.

Get ready to laugh your socks off!

Here's something I guarantee you will never see on a film festival marquee: "Tonight:Savage Steve Holland: An Auteur's Retrospective". Okay--maybe...in France. Alright--most likely... at an Eighties Theme Party. "One Crazy Summer" is another typically silly yet likeable 80's cinematic slopfest of the "Caddyshack" variety.A young John Cusack plays the mostly reactive Bill Murray character here, wryly observing the "wacky" behavior (and shameless camera mugging) of various 80's niteclub comics like Bobcat Goldthwaite, Taylor Negron and Rich Hall. Demi Moore gives an appealing performance, actually showing more acting promise at this stage of her career(before she started to take herself too seriously).Unintentional laughs abound during some sloppy lip-synching scenes where Demi, wearing her folk singer duds and strumming her acoustic guitar, somehow sounds more like a rockin' Pat Benatar (and gets an electric guitar sound out of that acoustic!)Good mindless fun.

"One Crazy Summer", staring John Cusack and Demi Moore, is one of the best movies to crawl out of the eighties. It is a thoughtful coming-of-age/romance story in which a high school graduate tries desparately to find his place in a seemingly loveless world. Don't let the comedy and the cheese fool you. This movie is seriously good.

This was Savage Steve Holland's follow up film to the cult classic better off dead... he had big shoes to fill and boy did he ever make another winner! Starring John Cussack, Demi Moore and Bobcat Goldthwait this movie is a laugh fest with some very nice touching moments in between! Even after all these years this movie still makes me laugh out loud! I can't recommend it enough to you all!

This movie is definitely a five star effort. I have a tape of it that is just after "MIDNIGHT MADNESS" (another five star corny film). It stars Booger from Revenge of the nerds, Cusack, a young Demi Moore, Bobcat Goldthwait from "Police Academy" fame, and some other recognizeable faces. They all put in a classic corny performance (like the attack of the dolphin with Rabbies. If you want to kick back with Popcorn and some beer and watch some Classic 80's Corny Comedy, grab this, Better Of Dead, Midnight Madness, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. All of which should be available on Amazon.com

If I had to list my top 20 favorite comedies, this would have to be in that list somewhere. Lighthearted and funny, and the DVD contains a commentary track that had me laughing throughout. If you like this one, check out "Better Off Dead", also by Savage Steve Holland and starring John Cusack.