I like “The ‘Burbs” more than I should. It’s funnier to me than it probably should be or actually is. I saw this movie when it first came out and I was young enough to not care about any of its flaws and actually thought it was pretty good. As I grew up, the jokes (either intentional or unintentional) took on a life of their own. It wouldn’t be fair for me to completely evaluate it based on my own personal experience with it because I over-value the movie. However, at the same time, I believe that the general public undervalues it. “The ‘Burbs” suffers from the same problem that our very first entry suffers from. It was made during a time when the actor who plays the lead was going through a tough stretch. In this case, that actor is Tom Hanks. People usually remember early Tom Hanks movies fondly for their goofy/slapsticky humor (“Splash”, “Bachelor Party”, “The Money Pit”, and culminating with “Big”) and then his later stuff usually has a lot more weight and notoriety to it (“Philadelphia”, “Forrest Gump”, “Apollo 13”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “The Green Mile”, “Cast Away”, “Road to Perdition”, “Catch Me If You Can”, and the Toy Stories). But there was this middle phase where his star stopped shining so bright (“Punchline”, “The ‘Burbs”, “Turner and Hooch”, “Joe Versus the Volcano”, and “Bonfire of the Vanities”). Those movies are definitely not as good as the ones previously mentioned and they all get lumped together in the same slump. However, I still think “The Burbs” is pretty good, just not as good “Saving Private Ryan.”
Here’s the story. Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks) is your typical suburban dad. A little bored with life and trying to get through life while dealing with his crazy neighbors including ex-military Rumsfield (Bruce Dern), the jack-ass kid across the street Ricky (Corey Feldman), and his dimwitted best friend by default Art (Rick Ducommun). Everything is kooky suburban life until the Klopecks (Courtney Gaines, Brother Theodore, and Henry Gibson) move in next door. No one ever sees them except at night when they’re digging in their backyard. Weird lights and noises are coming from their basement. Turns out that the last house Klopecks owned burned to the ground. There’s talk of them being satan worshippers and that possibly they’ve opened up a door to hell. When an elderly neighbor goes missing, this rag tag crew takes it upon themselves to figure out what happens. At first it’s a friendly neighborly visit, instigated by Ray’s wife (Carrie Fisher), that ends up being incredibly awkward but informative.
A full on assault (carried out fairly humorously) is carried out on the house with results that finally bring about an explosive conclusion. Tom Hanks actually does a pretty great job, nothing outside of his comfort zone, but great none the less. I especially like the part when he smashes beer cans on his head and then runs into a door.
There’s a good chance that many of the lines in this movie won’t have the same effect on you as they do me, but I’ll always be somewhat nostalgic for
“I want to kill everyone. Satan is good. Satan is our pal. “
“Get out of my yard, Lame-o! “
“I’ve never seen that. I’ve never seen anybody drive their garbage down to the street and bang the hell out of it with a stick. I-I’ve never seen that. “
“That kid next door’s a meatball. “
“Walter. I know you’re in there. That scum-sucking, barking rat of yours has just taken his last dump on my lawn. I find one more- just one- and I’m gonna catch him and staple his ass shut. “
“It came with the frame”
“Hey… Pinocchio! Where are you going? ”
“Oh-ho! Hans! A fine Christian name. Hans Christian Anderson! What are you, Catholic? “
“That’s a shit store anyway. “
“Red rover, red rove, now Ray come on over.”
and of course
“There go the goddamned brownies”
When going over those lines again, I realize just how many strange but entertaining (to me) lines that Bruce Dern had. Also, it doesn’t do good enough job of showing how ‘good’ Cory Feldman was. I wouldn’t say that he should be lauded for a great acting performance – more or less I think he was playing himself, but it totally worked.
There are definitely weird parts (especially Ray’s dreams, although, I guess they’re kind of interesting). On the whole though, the movie is pretty entertaining. It’s not typical really and kinda goes to weird places for a movie about the suburbs. Joe Dante is used to making movies about the suburbs (Gremlins, Explorers, Small Soldiers) but this one is really about the suburbs and a little weirder than the rest. This is probably writer, Dana Olsen‘s, best film which is probably part of the problem. The cinematography, editing, and art direction aren’t anything to write home about. The music is actually pretty good which makes sense considering that Jerry Goldsmith handled it and that dudes got too many Oscar nominations to count.
The movie is probably considered a failure, I just wish that more movies were failures in this way. If you really want to get the full effect, watch the movie a bunch of times as teenager and then check it out again when you’re in your twenties. It will seem great.
revolproductions 