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The Burbs (1989)
Director: Joe Dante
Writer: Dana Olsen
Cast: Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher
Genre: Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
I had never seen this one before, even though it's well known. It sort of reminded me of the 1981 movie Neighbors with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. The Burbs stars another comedy legend, Tom Hanks. These days we think of Tom Hanks as playing serious roles in pretentious movies, but here he's young, he's stressed out and married to Carrie Fisher. Hanks is real good at the straight laced, over worked, married man living in the suburbs, or the 'burbs as I like to call them. Hanks was a hot commodity in the late 80s, by the time he made this movie he had a number of successful comedies under his belt including Big (1988) and Splash (1984). Hanks is in top form here and the supporting cast and the crazy 80s antics really suit him.
I watched this for Carrie Fisher. She doesn't have a big role and is Tom's sensible wife. She was really good in that role too and it was nice to see her.
The other stand out in the cast is Bruce Dern, who knew he could do comedy so well! He plays this whacked out para-military guy who believes there's conspiracies everywhere. I could have done without Corey Feldman. He was OK in small does, even funny. I don't know why they gave him so much air time as clearly the other actors was where the movie was at.
The weirdest thing was the crazy neighbor played by Rick Ducommun. He was funny but I kept thinking his lines sounded like they were written for John Candy. Now if Candy had been in this film, it would be golden! Still I liked it, it's fun! it's wacky! it's funny! What more could you want?
.
Writer: Dana Olsen
Cast: Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher
Genre: Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
I had never seen this one before, even though it's well known. It sort of reminded me of the 1981 movie Neighbors with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. The Burbs stars another comedy legend, Tom Hanks. These days we think of Tom Hanks as playing serious roles in pretentious movies, but here he's young, he's stressed out and married to Carrie Fisher. Hanks is real good at the straight laced, over worked, married man living in the suburbs, or the 'burbs as I like to call them. Hanks was a hot commodity in the late 80s, by the time he made this movie he had a number of successful comedies under his belt including Big (1988) and Splash (1984). Hanks is in top form here and the supporting cast and the crazy 80s antics really suit him.
I watched this for Carrie Fisher. She doesn't have a big role and is Tom's sensible wife. She was really good in that role too and it was nice to see her.
The other stand out in the cast is Bruce Dern, who knew he could do comedy so well! He plays this whacked out para-military guy who believes there's conspiracies everywhere. I could have done without Corey Feldman. He was OK in small does, even funny. I don't know why they gave him so much air time as clearly the other actors was where the movie was at.
The weirdest thing was the crazy neighbor played by Rick Ducommun. He was funny but I kept thinking his lines sounded like they were written for John Candy. Now if Candy had been in this film, it would be golden! Still I liked it, it's fun! it's wacky! it's funny! What more could you want?
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