Life Stinks
Directors: Mel Brooks
Producers: Mel Brooks
Writers: Mel Brooks
Features: Widescreen/fullscreen option, audio commentary, featurette, trailer
Characters:
Goddard 'Pepto' Bolt - Mel Brooks
Molly - Lesley Ann Warren
Pritchard - Stuart Pankin
Sailor - Howard Morris
Genre: Comedy
Review:
This movie sucks should be the title. A big letdown from a mostly always entertaining Mel Brooks. I can't seem to find the exact reason that this movie went wrong, but it does so in more ways than one and that to even begin and try to count the flaws, one could go all day. Brooks plays successful businessman Goddard Bolt who just made a bet with a partner that for thirty days he can go penniless and live like a bum on the streets. He takes the bet and one can pretty much see where the movie is going.
It does not try to do anything new, rather than just have Brooks beg for food, look for shelter, and make a few new friends and learn that money isn't everything. There, are however a few good moments here and there. Including one gag with the remains of one of the new friends that he made and after they pour them into a stream all of it comes flying back into their faces. It's moments like this that make the film somewhat tolerable, but again, there are too few of them. The pace is also pretty slow and the film never really goes anywhere.
There really is not much else to say about "Life" except that to not watch it. There are many better comedies out there, including several with Brooks himself, but this was just a complete waste of time and talent for everyone involved. The dvd from MGM does include a couple of decent extras. The main draw is a commentary from Brooks and the rest of the writing team. It's a decent track, but it's something that must be done by watching this film more than once. A task I would not recommend. The other extra is a newly created featurette titled "Does Life Really Stink?" It mixes behind the scenes footage with interviews, but again I did not care for the film enough to want to watch this. The film's trailer rounds out the package. As for the A/V quality of the disk, it's pretty good overall, if a bit darker than what I would have liked, but that is most likely due to having both Widescreen and Fullscreen on the same disk. The Dolby 2.0 is decent, but could have been expanded a bit. Overall a decent disk for a not so decent movie. I would strongly advise everyone to stay away from this film.
----Matthew