Cheesy, classic, comedy gold
Directed by: Joe Dante
Written by: Dana Olsen
Cast: Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Bruce Dern
Swift shot: Arguably one of the best films to see how continuity in a screenplay can create comedy and probably how the whole concept of “people watching” took root. Famous Director Joe Dante keeps the mood quirky and funny. And you are left wondering, who are the real lunatics in your neighborhood?
Ray Peterson (Hanks) is your average American nobody, he’s got a wife and a kid and he’s on vacation. It’s never revealed what his job is, but it doesn’t really matter – he’s supposed to be you, essentially, a level-headed guy who just wants to mope around the house in his robe and not have to worry about anything. But, his new neighbors make relaxing impossible. And his old neighbors keep pestering him to see what the hell is going on next door.
His portly neighbor, Art (Ducommun) is convinced Ray’s new neighbors, The Klopeks, are directly from Hell. No one has seen The Klopeks go in or out, they’ve gotten no deliveries, and no moving van ever showed up, they just sort of appeared at this dilapidated place that keeps emitting strange clunks and bangs late into the night from the basement.
Another neighbor, Lt. Mark Rumsfield (Dern) is a ninnyhammer, ex-soldier that basically keeps a keen eye on the street and is rather enjoying watching Ray wuss out dealing with the situation. The lieutenant’s got a smoking hot wife, Bonnie (Wendy Schaal) that is constantly ogled by the punk next door, Ricky (Corey Feldman). This kid is convinced the only entertainment he needs is his street, and as things go from weird to completely chaotic, he’s right!
Ray’s wife Carol (Fisher) keeps trying to defuse the situation with the weird, reclusive neighbors by nagging Ray to go away to the lake. And you end up with a kind of tug-of-war between Ray’s eccentric friends and Carol vying for Ray’s commitment. He’s not really sure what to do, and his indecision drives the story, as you begin to wonder how you might handle things in his situation. Are his new neighbors odd or Satanists? Things escalate at a steady pace, the film never gets boring, and watching these idiots bumble around trying to play Hardy Boys is hilarious.
Certain things begin to happen that even Carol can’t ignore, and when one of their older neighbors disappears, a confrontation we’ve all been waiting for is inevitable.
I mentioned earlier that continuity feeds the comedy, and I will give you an example. In one scene a character blasts the head off of a ceramic owl, and throughout the rest of the film, there sits this headless owl. Everytime you see it, not looking back at you, you are reminded about the joke from before. It’s like a nice little flashback down memory lane to the last time you laughed, hell, it recycles the joke. That’s what I call good for the comedy environment. There were a few of those throughout.
And the dialog in The Burbs produced some of the best one-liners I still use today. “Came with the frame.” “Hey Pinocchio, where are you going?” The list goes on. I have mentioned in other reviews what I call “Trap movies,” and The Burbs is one of those, where it will be on TV, and regardless of what point it is in the film, I will be forced to watch it to conclusion. It traps me, and I can’t escape. [Swift aside: Do you have any trap movies?]
With a dark theme and over-the-top character acting by the entire cast, especially Courtney ‘Malachai’ Gains as one of the stand-out Klopeks, The Burbs is one of those films I recommend to my younger friends that weren’t exposed to many of the ’80s comedies. Sadly Rick Duccomun passed away last year, and now watching the film brought a sense of melancholy with it. But I think his work in this film was exceptionally brilliant, and he was working alongside Tom Hanks!
If you want to laugh, and you want to see why film continuity matters, and you want to see what great directing looks like, The Burbs is one you shouldn’t miss. It will leave you wondering what you really know about your neighbors.
