by Flack » Wed Aug 11, 2021 8:22 am
Sometimes I review movies to let people know how good they are. Sometimes I review movies to convince myself that the film I just watched really exists and wasn't part of some bizarre fevered dream. This review definitely falls into the latter category.
According to Dan Aykroyd, two things inspired him to write
Nothing but Trouble. The first was an incident in which Aykroyd was pulled over for speeding through a small backwater town and was taken immediately to the town's court and put on trial. The second, according to Aykroyd, was that he had an image of John Candy in drag and through the the idea was so funny that he decided to write a movie around it.
Nothing but Trouble has other obvious influences. It's a little
Rocky Horror Picture Show, a little
Ghostbusters, a little
Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a little
Beetlejuice with a sprinkle of
Little Monsters on top. More than any of those things,
Nothing but Trouble is one of those movies where somebody controlling the purse strings along the way should have just said "no." Like, I imagine whoever was responsible for reviewing the dailies just didn't go to work for six months and lied to his boss saying the film was going okay.
Financial advisor Chris Thorne (Chevy Chase) agrees to give a ride to attorney Diane Lightson (Demi Moore) and two friends to the Jersey shore. During their trip, the four take a detour through a backwoods town where they are pulled over by Sheriff Dennis Valkenheiser (John Candy) and taken to see the local judge, Judge Alvin Valkenheiser (Dan Aykroyd). Judge Valkenheiser is a bizarre looking creature, The "courthouse" is a spooky house full of tricks, and the four are sentenced to spend the weekend in jail which they enter through a trap door in the floor.
Later that evening the four are invited to join the Judge and Sheriff for dinner, along with a few others including the judge's mute granddaughter, Eldona (Candy, in drag). At dinner it is suggested that if Chris would marry Eldona, the group would be freed from this kooky situation.
Just how kooky is the situation? At one point, the band Digital Underground is arrested and brought to the courthouse. While there, Humpty, 2PAC, and the rest of the band break into song, at which point the judge reveals a hidden pipe organ and joins in.
I mean... this is not a normal movie. This is very, very far from a normal movie. Like, this is a movie with a five minute scene of John Candy in drag serving limp sausages for dinner to Dan Aykroyd who (and this is true) specifically requested that his nose be made up to look like a penis.
Most of the movie revolves around Chase and Moore's characters trying to find a way to escape, but they are no match for the judge's house full of tricks. There are trap doors, cages, moving hallways, slides, and barred windows. Other than that, it's a pretty normal house. Oh, except for the giant man-baby named Bobo that lives in the basement.
According to IMDB,
Nothing but Trouble had a budget of $40 million and brought in around $8 million at the box office. Aykroyd, who wrote, directed, and starred in the film, wrote letters of apology to everyone who worked on the film after its release. Chevy Chase was such a pain in the ass on the set that he and Aykroyd never worked together again. This was also the last time Aykroyd worked with John Candy, and the last time Chase worked with Candy.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uOBF6r040U[/media]
Sometimes I review movies to let people know how good they are. Sometimes I review movies to convince myself that the film I just watched really exists and wasn't part of some bizarre fevered dream. This review definitely falls into the latter category.
According to Dan Aykroyd, two things inspired him to write [i]Nothing but Trouble[/i]. The first was an incident in which Aykroyd was pulled over for speeding through a small backwater town and was taken immediately to the town's court and put on trial. The second, according to Aykroyd, was that he had an image of John Candy in drag and through the the idea was so funny that he decided to write a movie around it.
[i]Nothing but Trouble[/i] has other obvious influences. It's a little [i]Rocky Horror Picture Show[/i], a little [i]Ghostbusters[/i], a little [i]Texas Chainsaw Massacre[/i] and a little [i]Beetlejuice[/i] with a sprinkle of [i]Little Monsters[/i] on top. More than any of those things, [i]Nothing but Trouble[/i] is one of those movies where somebody controlling the purse strings along the way should have just said "no." Like, I imagine whoever was responsible for reviewing the dailies just didn't go to work for six months and lied to his boss saying the film was going okay.
Financial advisor Chris Thorne (Chevy Chase) agrees to give a ride to attorney Diane Lightson (Demi Moore) and two friends to the Jersey shore. During their trip, the four take a detour through a backwoods town where they are pulled over by Sheriff Dennis Valkenheiser (John Candy) and taken to see the local judge, Judge Alvin Valkenheiser (Dan Aykroyd). Judge Valkenheiser is a bizarre looking creature, The "courthouse" is a spooky house full of tricks, and the four are sentenced to spend the weekend in jail which they enter through a trap door in the floor.
Later that evening the four are invited to join the Judge and Sheriff for dinner, along with a few others including the judge's mute granddaughter, Eldona (Candy, in drag). At dinner it is suggested that if Chris would marry Eldona, the group would be freed from this kooky situation.
Just how kooky is the situation? At one point, the band Digital Underground is arrested and brought to the courthouse. While there, Humpty, 2PAC, and the rest of the band break into song, at which point the judge reveals a hidden pipe organ and joins in.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/llk11Xd.jpg[/img]
I mean... this is not a normal movie. This is very, very far from a normal movie. Like, this is a movie with a five minute scene of John Candy in drag serving limp sausages for dinner to Dan Aykroyd who (and this is true) specifically requested that his nose be made up to look like a penis.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/3Ja1QaA.jpg[/img]
Most of the movie revolves around Chase and Moore's characters trying to find a way to escape, but they are no match for the judge's house full of tricks. There are trap doors, cages, moving hallways, slides, and barred windows. Other than that, it's a pretty normal house. Oh, except for the giant man-baby named Bobo that lives in the basement.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/HU3omms.jpg[/img]
According to IMDB, [i]Nothing but Trouble[/i] had a budget of $40 million and brought in around $8 million at the box office. Aykroyd, who wrote, directed, and starred in the film, wrote letters of apology to everyone who worked on the film after its release. Chevy Chase was such a pain in the ass on the set that he and Aykroyd never worked together again. This was also the last time Aykroyd worked with John Candy, and the last time Chase worked with Candy.