THE ‘BURBS (1988) ** I've never thought Tom Hanks was nearly the actor that a lot of people do, but I've always thought he was entertaining enough in a light comedy like this, where he's the slightly uptight guy who thinks he's the sane one because everyone around him is even worse. So I went in with moderately high hopes and came out slightly disappointed. I think part of the point is to make the suburbs seem more mysterious and interesting than the writers think they are, which is interesting primarily because suburbs are so inherently fascinating, with low level sin of ephemeral density lurking behind every doorway in a temporal battle against the mundane as perfected through the ages. Can even little league genuine intrigue overwhelm historic levels of imposed boredom? That should be interesting, and edifying unless you're caught up in it, in which case it looks normal to eyes that consider normal less. Tom's ok, but Bruce Dern is better-that guy's all over California, especially, the kind of cool guy who's really a geek in a personality perm. Good job by him. Also Corey Feldman-not that his acting's great or bad, but he manages to communicate the essence of being a teenager: the affected and aggravated casuality, the expectations of adventure worn like a badge of faith, the elevation of what the vulgar perceive as trivial (the pizza man!) to the status of myth. The rest of it's towards the stupid side of silly, and not all that well done, mostly, but if you seek points of interest ye shall find, and if that's not the point they're trying to make then it's a better one. The irony being, maybe, that they found some interesting bits but chose to concentrate on some other things. Aiii!, that's the trap, my friend!
back to Brilliant Observations on 1776 Films page, or Index
go back home, or send me email
Reviews won't do it any more! I need sustained brilliance! I want to buy your novel!