Brain Donors
D: Dennis Dugan (1992); with John Turturro, Bob Nelson, Mel Smith, George De La Pena, John Savident, Nancy Marchand. Who would've thought that the Marx Brothers, arguably the most difficult comedy team to analyze in the history of the medium, would be the ones best served by a parody/homage? In a film originally titled
Lame Ducks (yet officially credited as being "suggested by"
A Night at the Opera rather than
Duck Soup), Turturro (as Roland T. Flakfizer), Smith (as Rocco Melonchek), and Nelson (as "Jacques") do the comedy trio thing emphasizing their own personal touches and merely utilizing the original Marxes' running gags as jumping-off points. Mind you, the Marx Brothers were more than just talented comedians. If their films were merely funny, they wouldn't still be remembered today. More importantly, they burst in on the Depression-addled American public at a time when heroes were needed to knock the stuffing out of the shirts of the rich, giving the poverty-stricken masses a rare opportunity to laugh and forget their worries. Writer Pat Proft doesn't even attempt to address that issue or elevate his clowns to the level of saviors; rather, he uses his experiences with the Zucker Brothers -- as writer on the
Hot Shots and
Naked Gun series -- to pile on the gags like ham slices on a Dagwood sandwich. Like his films with the Zuckers, Proft manages a high ratio of hits to misses here as well, thanks largely to the instant chemistry between his three goofs.
Brain Donors is little more than mindless entertainment, yes, but amidst the Nineties sea of teen-oriented sexual awakening "comedies" and schizophrenic horror spoofs, this kind of well-crafted mindless entertainment has become almost a lost art.
