Deacon's Movie Analysis for 8/24/03

[WrestlingDeacon 0]

“Today, we’re teaching poodles how to fly.”

 

I didn’t receive a lot of comments on my first analysis, but I do thank those who read it and replied. Particularly Crucifixio Jones, head of the SNKT boards, who has asked me to make my weekly analysis an exclusive to his boards. There’s no reason not to and I do hope that those here who enjoy this column will come find it over there. I have several films lined up that I would like to do in the coming weeks including Dirty Harry, The Searchers, Cool Hand Luke, L.A. Confidential, Star Trek II and Blazing Saddles among others. I also want to do a month or more of horror films come October, which will mostly likely include the Evil Dead Series, Halloween and the original Dracula and Frankenstein. Again, any and all comments are appreciated and it is always my hope that these articles will spark more in depth discussion of not only the movie at hand, but films in general.

 

I do not want to wholly focus on ‘good’ movies, or those considered classics and highly important. I’m going to switch off week to week from doing a heavier drama to doing a lighter comedy or cult film. Occasionally I might even do something I readily admit is a bad movie, because I think there is something we can learn, maybe even more so, from awful films. This week, as my last on the TSM boards for the foreseeable future, I’ve decided to go with a movie that one might think doesn’t have a lot to examine, UHF.

 

UHF was novelty singer Weird Al Yankovic’s foray into expanding his brand of parody humor to the world of film in 1989. While these are not DVD reviews, I do own the DVD of this film and would highly recommend it to fans of the movie to pick up. There are a ton of extras and Easter eggs along with very insightful commentary by Weird Al himself and director Jay Levey. Al not only talks about the bare bones of making the film, but the problems he ran into with the studio producing the film, Orion Pictures, which are very interesting. Primarily, Al envisioned the movie to be a little B-comedy released in the late winter time period. However, UHF received the highest score ever by test audiences for an Orion film and they pushed it to a huge summer release. Too bad the summer of ’89 proved to be one of the biggest ever for Hollywood and UHF was crushed by everything from Batman to family friendly Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The lesson here is to never try to push a film as more than it is. If the movie is good, audiences will find it and grosses will slowly build. Be true to what the film is and it will do well. Evidenced a bit by UHF as the movie has gained a fierce cult following over the years after fans were allowed to find it on their own on VHS and DVD.

 

STORY

George Newman (Yankovic) is a hopeless putz who constantly loses himself in daydreams where he pictures himself as the star of his favorite movies and T.V. shows. This is to the chagrin of his long suffering girlfriend Teri (Victoria Jackson) and best friend Bob (David Bowe), especially after George gets he and Bob fired from their jobs at a burger joint. Luckily, George’s Uncle Harvey (Stanley Brock) has recently won a UHF station in a poker game and makes George the new station manager at the prodding of his Aunt Esther (Sue Ane Langdon). George doesn’t have much luck until he stumbles upon putting the station’s janitor Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards) on the air as the host of his own children’s show. The ratings are through the roof and George creates several more shows starring his friends and employees; including secretary Pamela (Fran Drescher), chief engineer Philo (Anthony Geary), midget cameraman Noodles (Billy Barty), delivery man Raul (Trinidad Silva) and karate master Kuni (Gedde Wantanabe). U62 becomes the highest rated station in the city and draws the wrath of the owner of Channel 8, R.J. Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy). When Uncle Harvey is indebt to a bookie, R.J. attempts to buy the station from him, giving Al and his friends only two days to raise the $75,000 themselves to save the station. A telethon seems to be the answer, but events look in dire straits after network star Spadowski is kidnapped by R.J.’s goons. With time running short, George has to use his imagination to save his new friend and his station.

 

SCRIPT

 

The script is actually pretty decent in establishing key elements right off the bat and not being too heavy on exposition. George and Bob through their natural conversation at Burger World clearly setup George as a goof who can’t keep a job, but a guy who thinks his imagination will eventually pay off for him. That’s the character in a nutshell and it’s firmly established early on in a clear way. When Uncle Harvey wins the station in a poker game, he tells his wife how it’s been on the verge of bankruptcy and a run down dump for years. There’s no need to get fancy in a comedy like this; get the information out there quickly and clearly. They also setup a joke with the bum getting a penny from R.J. that pays off in the end with it being a rare coin that allowed him to buy enough shares in the station to give George enough funds to purchase the station out from under R.J.’s nose. Very simple elements in the writing that work well.

 

Another key to a comedy of this nature is to keep the jokes fast and furious. There’s always another sight gag or one liner around the corner that gives the film a frantic pacing and energy along with creating the perfect goofy world where these types of characters and situations can realistically take place. The skits covering the commercials and shows on U62 are the best parts of the film by far. They’re hilarious due to the creativity and originality shown. It’s a display of what Al could really do if he was allowed a more open canvas to parody film and television as he does music. UHF probably would have worked better as a television show on par with SCTV. A funeral home with a salad bar and a store that only sells spatulas are funny ideas, but don’t really do much in the overall construction of the film. I feel that either greater focus or longer skits focusing on the shows should have been done or just stick with the behind the scenes elements and key parts of Stanley Spadowski’s Clubhouse. However, Wheel of Fish and Raul’s Wild Kingdom are hysterical in their stupidity and played off brilliantly by Watananbe and Silva.

 

The film is a bit of a mish-mash due to a juxtaposition and slight shift in focus that happens halfway through the movie. It almost makes it feel too short or if it could have been two movies. The film goes from being about George running the station to him trying to save the station. The conflict goes from George trying to make the station successful to him trying to keep it out of the hands of R.J. This could have been easily fixed and given the film a more uniform feel in the storyline if R.J. is made a greater threat upon his first introduction. Originally, he doesn’t care that U62 exists until they become successful. If he wants to crush them from the start, just because he’s a prick and he finds George to be an upstart in the television station game, you have a more cohesive storyline and links between the segments. George is forced to make the station successful by R.J. breathing down his neck and once he does that, R.J. ups the ante by trying to buy them out.

 

ACTING

 

Weird Al displays a lot of energy and a likable screen presence and that’s about it. I don’t expect Yankovic to be a classically trained actor and I think his biggest problem is that he’s trying too hard. During scenes where he’s stressed out over the station or depressed at losing Teri I think David Bowe should be behind him with a giant neon sign that says, “he’s acting!” (which actually would have been hysterical). Al comes off best in the parody sequences, but I think that’s because he’s purposely trying to play the part like Harrison Ford in Raiders or Sylvester Stallone in Rambo and that aping is strangely allowing him to come off more natural than when he’s trying to forcibly act as himself.

 

I’ve never been a big fan of Michael Richards, but he does a great job here in creating Stanley as a lovable dork and his improvising of lines are true to the character (as opposed to someone like Robin Williams who just goes off on random tangents). He really shines during the kidnapping sequence where his natural personality seeks to drive the thugs crazy. The voice and mannerisms are funny and Richards does a lot of what he would later perfect on Seinfeld, the ability to be in the background of a shot doing nothing, yet he is somehow still cracking you up. Richards walks a thin line between childlike nativity and just being a total spazz that is pitch perfect for the character and film.

 

Another reason I wanted to do UHF this week is my personal relation to the film. Recently, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with UHF star and film legend Kevin McCarthy who plays R.J. Reynolds in the picture. I posted about the meeting on the boards back in June after my friend Shawn and I drove McCarthy to the airport from a horror convention he was appearing at out outside of Pittsburgh. Admittedly, we didn’t talk much about UHF. That would be like having an audience granted with Robert DeNiro and asking him about Rocky and Bullwinkle. However, I did have McCarthy sign my DVD copy of UHF and he shared some memories with me at that time, what memories he had. UHF was basically a week’s worth of work for him. He flew in, did his scenes, collected his paycheck and flew out. That’s how a lot of work in films go for actors. This is not to say that McCarthy sleepwalks through his part. He’s brilliantly maniacal and over the top throughout. The way he hits a line, does a take and uses body language are all hallmarks of a veteran actor of his stature and it’s really impressive how much he brings to such a small role in a small film. He did say that he found Weird Al to be a genuinely funny guy and appreciated the respect he showed him He also found Richards to be really talented.

 

The rest of the cast is really good, but unfortunately don’t have a lot to do. Chief among them is Watanabe and Silva, who as I noted above really make their segments hilarious highlights of the film. Sadly, Silva died in a car wreck during the making of the movie and several of his scenes were not shot. There was talk of replacing him and reshooting his parts with a new actor, but that was vetoed and the movie is dedicated to his memory, very classy. Anthony Geary is best known as Luke from General Hospital and is barely recognizable as the scatterbrained Philo. He nails the character, but again doesn’t have a lot to do with him. Likewise, Bowe is simply Al’s friend and while engaging in spots and the glue that holds the lunacy together, he’s more just sort of there than anything. The same can be said of Fran Drescher who looks like her character is going to be important upon her introduction, but just fades away in the second half. The best part of Drescher’s performance is that she’s always showing a good bit of stomach and leg. Fran’s always had a killer body, too bad she couldn’t do something with that grating voice. About the only person who isn’t particularly good is Victoria Jackson who comes off as really amateurish, even for a film of this nature, and doesn’t bring the same zeal to her part as the others do. She’s just the girlfriend and does nothing to really distinguish herself. What is most criminal is the wasting of Billy Barty who is just as great an actor as McCarthy and I feel could have brought a lot to the movie if his part had been expanded.

 

DIRECTION/TECHNICAL

Directory Jay Levey is Weird Al’s longtime manager and has directed many of his music videos. Like any first time director, Levey is most concerned with getting the action on screen and doesn’t do much in the realm of angles and editing to set elements off. He sets the camera up and lets it roll. For a movie of this nature, that’s fine as it’s all about the jokes and the acting. There’s really not a lot to say about the technical specs as they’re all adequate, but nothing special. It really helps that the flick is based around a cheesy rundown T.V. station, because that look was easy to capture for a low budget film with a bare bones production staff.

 

The opening parody of Raiders of the Lost Ark really works and helps to set the film by how closely they ape the opening sequence of that movie with the sets and camerawork. The closer you can get to the original, the funnier a spoof will be. Gandhi II is also hilarious in the way they take the character (played by director Levey) and place him into a movie that looks like something out of an episode of Kojack.

 

SOUNDTRACK

The highlight of the soundtrack is the Beverly Hillbillies theme set to “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits. In fact, Mark Knopler plays guitar on the track and it helps to make what could have been a stupid idea come off really well due to the authenticity. I love the UHF theme and the video for the song, parodying other famous videos, appears as an extra on the DVD. The only other Yankovic track in the film is “I Want to be Your Hog” played when Uncle Harvey is in the pool. According to the commentary, Al wanted to use “Kung Fu Fighting” but didn’t want to pay the outrageous sum for the song and instead wrote something with a similar feel.

 

 

THAT’S A WRAP

 

The movie really comes together best when doing the spoof commercials and television shows. The acting and writing is both very sharp and funny and the attention to detail in getting the exact look and feel right is remarkable. The problem is these segments don’t really add much to the rest of the film. It’s one thing to be a sketch comedy type movie like Groove Tube or Kentucky Fried Movie and another to try to sandwich those types of bits into the framework of a real film with a real plotline. A little tightening of the premise and editing would have done wonders to make the film a more realized project.

 

I just get the feeling that there was so much more they could have done with the movie as far as the script goes. This is pretty indicative of the film as a whole. You’re surprised as to how good it really is, but there’s so much more that could have been done with a little more filmmaking experience under their belts. UHF is a very fun and hilarious movie with a lot of good gags and acting. It’s a shame it was buried upon its release as I now a sequel or television series based on the movie could have been so much better.

[Guest Razor Roman]

Nice work. You make some good points about the film, and there really isn't anything I can quibble with you about. I love the movie and have the DVD, and I can say your article is pretty dead-on.

 

Good job. I only ready it because it was about UHF, but now I'll read it whenever I get the chance :-)

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I really enjoy your writing style. Very easy to read. Thank you, that was enjoyable.

 

... though you didn't pimp Richards' Oscar Worthy performance enough.

[5_moves_of_doom 0]

...

 

Well, I agree on most of your points, and it was a very good article, but...

 

...

[WrestlingDeacon 0]

Ok, TNT, what's your "but." You know you can speak freely with me and I want to try and provoke conversation with my analysis.

 

Thank you to the others who have read and the positive comments from Rudo and Roman. Hopefully you'll come read me at SNKT, I'll have the links in my sig.