Post by Ladyfingers on Mar 13, 2024 10:17:18 GMT
My first time rewatching this since I recorded it off TV onto a Betamax tape. I recall it being a big deal at the time amongst kids, what with the funny robot and dirty language and all. It's not good, really, just some lazy reference jokes and a script aimed at a thick audience. Sheedy is sweet but isn't written well, Guttenberg is fine as his usual self and Stevens is so far beyond the pale of modern sensitivities that his performance generates a mix of genuine laughter and laughs of total amazement at what would now be a hate crime. Pendleton is the funniest natural performer of the lot.
I appreciated the puppetry/animatronics behind Number 5 and how nearly everything was done in camera. Badham was a really workmanlike director who seldom made anything truly great but was always kind of slick in a superficial way. If this had been better written he might have made a proper classic.