Retro Review: Meatballs

So this is one of the few Retro Reviews I’ll write where I’ve seen the movie before but have mostly forgotten it. ¬†Strangely, I saw it less than a year ago but for whatever reason, it just didn’t stick with me. ¬†Meatballs has its moments but for the most part, it’s too locked in on the time period it was made for me to relate to it. ¬†I’m stunned that this movie not only spawned 3 sequels but is in talks to be remade. ¬†Well, I’m not so surprised about the remake talk but for what was Bill Murray’s first film and starring role, you could do a lot worse.

The movie begins with Tripper (Murray), head counselor at Camp North Star, making the morning announcements from the comfort of his bed. ¬†While he explains that he’ll be playing the national anthem, he in fact plays a recording of bag pipes, thus setting the tone for the movie- scatterbrained. ¬†Usually at this point in my reviews I start to tell you about the plot but for the life of me I couldn’t really tell what the fuck was going on. ¬†Yes, Tripper is the focal point for everything but there’s a lot of ancillary crap going on that while funny, has nothing to do with… well anything really. ¬†Take the moment where one of the female counselors commandeers a boat to tell one of the male counselors that she’s interested in him. ¬†Who gives a shit?

It’s interesting though because this is really not all that different than the “plot lines” found in other films from these same guys. ¬†Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis, who direct and write Meatballs respectively, both worked on Animal House and of course Ramis went on to write and direct Caddyshack. ¬†All three of these movies don’t necessarily have a plot so much as they have a lot of loosely connected scenes of hilarity at varying levels. ¬†And then they all three end with some sort of a contest, Meatballs having a two day relay with rival, Camp Mohawk, to give the audience the notion that a plot might actually exist. ¬†I guess the difference with Meatballs is that other than Bill Murray, you don’t recognize any of the actors nor is there anything particularly funny going on when Murray isn’t involved. ¬†Any one of the characters in Animal House could be your favorite but that’s just not the case here.

So you start with those detriments and there’s really not a lot to go off of for the film. ¬†I know I’m being pretty harsh here but not all is lost as Murray really does bring the funny. ¬†You almost get the sense that he had carte blanche to do whatever he wanted as his performance just seems more like “Bill Murray” than like a character. ¬†In particular I enjoyed his interactions with camp newcomer Rudy (Chris Makepeace) mainly because he didn’t treat him as a kid so much as he just treated him as a fellow human. ¬†Rudy starts off as a rather shy kid so Tripper takes him under his wing. ¬†It’s interesting though because according to the special features, many of these scenes of Tripper and Rudy bonding were shot after the filmmakers realized they didn’t have enough of their main character interacting with the more featured of the campers. ¬†While these scenes do work, they feel shoehorned into the film and don’t do enough story-wise to be called necessary. ¬†But you can’t have a 65 minute movie now can you?

I mentioned how Tripper treated Rudy as more of an adult than a young adolescent. ¬†It’s interesting because all of the counselors do this to some extent, almost to the point of illegality. ¬†Look, I know a lot of unruly shit goes down at camps but it’s a wonder that any parent ever let their child go again after watching this movie. ¬†There’s a scene at a dance where Tripper tells two male counselors to sort all the virgins to one side of the dance floor and the non-virgins to the other. ¬†The counselors then start to fight over who gets to sleep with either grouping of female campers. ¬†I know it’s farce but aren’t most of these campers super young? ¬†It’s kind of creepy. ¬†And speaking of creepy, there’s a sequence where Tripper basically tries to rape a female counselor he’s been eying for a few years. ¬†In perfect Hollywood fashion, his abusive actions lead to the eventual and consensual bedding of said counselor. ¬†Bizarre but good news, honey- now I know how to get laid!

Look, I know I’m being pretty cynical here but damn it, the movie just didn’t work for me. ¬†I laughed quite a bit actually so I guess Meatballs has that going for it. ¬†But I have a hard time recommending you place it in your Netflix queue. ¬†The one thing I will say is that for a low budget 1979 film, the Special Edition DVD looks and sounds pretty damn impressive.

Retro Review is a weekly column written by Dustin and occasionally other authors from the Breach. ¬†Here we take a look at films from yesteryear. ¬†1989 and older to be exact. ¬†At times we’ll try and analyze how the film has influenced modern cinema, discuss the quality of the current release, or just do a traditional review of the damn thing and throw it up here. As always, requests for these reviews are welcomed.

Recent posts by Dustin

• Monday Morning Dork Attack: Dublin Dr. Pepper - January 16th, 2012
• Monday Morning Dork Attack: Broken Wii - January 9th, 2012
• Monday Morning Dork Attack: Luck - January 2nd, 2012
• Dustin's 2011 10 Favorite and 5 Disappointments for Film - December 30th, 2011
• Monday Morning Dork Attack: 355.2 - November 28th, 2011

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz