Drop Dead Fred
1991, PG-13, 103 min.
Directed by Ate De Jong, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Phoebe Cates, Rik Mayall, Marsha Mason, Tim Matheson, Carrie Fisher.

It’s a cute idea, I suppose, about a grown woman whose imaginary childhood friend called Drop Dead Fred returns when her adult problems are at their bleakest creating all kinds of mayhem and mischief and chaos and fun — and along the way helps our heroine self-actualize and become a more centered human being. But somewhere between conception and execution the movie turned sour and most of the cuteness was replaced with venom and malice.

*½   

This article appears in May 31 • 1991 (Cover).

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.