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THE 'BURBS
If you thought suburban living was all about who has the best lawn and the best
Christmas decorations, you might want to check out The 'Burbs, the scathing black comedy from 1989 that sheds a bizarre light on suburban living that we don't see coming at all, even if it does play it's cards a little too quickly.
Set in the fictional hamlet of Hinkley Hills, this film takes place in the cul-de-sac of a particular street where the neighbors, who all know each other intimately, are all disturbed by the arrival of the new neighbors, a creepy family called the Klopeks, who have done nothing to their lawn, have not painted the house, but have been observed digging in the backyard at night and putting large piles of garbage out front and beating it into submission before putting the top on the cans.
The residents of the cul-de-sac include Ray (Tom Hanks), who has taken the week off work and wants to be lazy around the house, despite objectionas from his wife, Carol (the late Carrie Fisher), who wants to vacation at the lake; Art (Rick Duccommun) is Ray's lazy, mooching best friend who has been watching the Klopeks and has his own theories; Rumsfield (Bruce Dern) is a slightly demented ex-military man who lives with his much younger wife, Bonnie (Wendy Schaal); Ricky (Corey Feldman) is the teen whose parents are out of town and is our guide through this demented look at suburbia, who considers every night in his neighborhood a show and invites friends over to watch; and there's Walter (the late Gale Gordon, in his final film role), an old man with a toy poodle, whose disappearance kicks the mystery of the Klopeks into high gear.
Director Joe Dante, the man who directed Gremlins, does a clever job of bathing this suburban setting in a gothic atmosphere that is quite intoxicating, thanks to a perfect mixture of disparate cul-de-sac residents, who are all given fun and individual personalities by Dana Olsen's surprisingly deft screenplay, that possibly plays its cards too quickly...one of the first shots in the film is of the Klopeks basement, with strange noise and flashing lights coming from it and it is after that, we see the neighborhood the next day, looking picture perfect with the paperboy riding through the cul-de-sac. That's where I would have started the story, providing a peek into a what is supposedly picture perfect street and then let us in on what's going on. The film also provides an extra ending, which we don't see coming, but it does bring the bizarre story to a satisfactory conclusion.
Hanks makes a perfect straight man, the cynic who doesn't want to believe there is evil going on in his neighborhood and allows Duccummun to garner major laughs without letting him blow Hanks off the screen. Also loved Bruce Dern as the unhinged Rumsfield and Henry Gibson, Brother Theodore, and Courtney Gains were appropriately creepy as the Klopeks. I would have liked to have seen the story unfold a little more slowly, but as it is, an entertaining ride. RIP, Carrie.
If you thought suburban living was all about who has the best lawn and the best
Christmas decorations, you might want to check out The 'Burbs, the scathing black comedy from 1989 that sheds a bizarre light on suburban living that we don't see coming at all, even if it does play it's cards a little too quickly.
Set in the fictional hamlet of Hinkley Hills, this film takes place in the cul-de-sac of a particular street where the neighbors, who all know each other intimately, are all disturbed by the arrival of the new neighbors, a creepy family called the Klopeks, who have done nothing to their lawn, have not painted the house, but have been observed digging in the backyard at night and putting large piles of garbage out front and beating it into submission before putting the top on the cans.
The residents of the cul-de-sac include Ray (Tom Hanks), who has taken the week off work and wants to be lazy around the house, despite objectionas from his wife, Carol (the late Carrie Fisher), who wants to vacation at the lake; Art (Rick Duccommun) is Ray's lazy, mooching best friend who has been watching the Klopeks and has his own theories; Rumsfield (Bruce Dern) is a slightly demented ex-military man who lives with his much younger wife, Bonnie (Wendy Schaal); Ricky (Corey Feldman) is the teen whose parents are out of town and is our guide through this demented look at suburbia, who considers every night in his neighborhood a show and invites friends over to watch; and there's Walter (the late Gale Gordon, in his final film role), an old man with a toy poodle, whose disappearance kicks the mystery of the Klopeks into high gear.
Director Joe Dante, the man who directed Gremlins, does a clever job of bathing this suburban setting in a gothic atmosphere that is quite intoxicating, thanks to a perfect mixture of disparate cul-de-sac residents, who are all given fun and individual personalities by Dana Olsen's surprisingly deft screenplay, that possibly plays its cards too quickly...one of the first shots in the film is of the Klopeks basement, with strange noise and flashing lights coming from it and it is after that, we see the neighborhood the next day, looking picture perfect with the paperboy riding through the cul-de-sac. That's where I would have started the story, providing a peek into a what is supposedly picture perfect street and then let us in on what's going on. The film also provides an extra ending, which we don't see coming, but it does bring the bizarre story to a satisfactory conclusion.
Hanks makes a perfect straight man, the cynic who doesn't want to believe there is evil going on in his neighborhood and allows Duccummun to garner major laughs without letting him blow Hanks off the screen. Also loved Bruce Dern as the unhinged Rumsfield and Henry Gibson, Brother Theodore, and Courtney Gains were appropriately creepy as the Klopeks. I would have liked to have seen the story unfold a little more slowly, but as it is, an entertaining ride. RIP, Carrie.