Nothing but Trouble

What Jeff said:

Mike’s verdict:

This movie is basically The Hills Have Eyes. The unlucky family on vacation has been replaced by a pretentious businessman who has been bamboozled into giving a woman he’s just met a ride to Atlantic City, and the unforgiving desert has been replaced by a house full of dangerous traps and gizmos. But the violent and disfigured rural family is the same, and so is their sense of “justice”.

Of course, there are a few differences between this film and the classic horror trope. The businessman, played by Chevy Chase, is a bumbling idiot, and all of the eyes belong to John Candy and Dan Aykroyd.

These hills have googly eyes.

Movies written and staring Dan Aykroyd – especially those including John Candy and Chevy Chase – can’t really be critiqued. You can ignore the fact that Aykroyd received a Worst Supporting Actor Razzie; this film is meant to be a technically awful, tremendously entertaining distraction – and that is certainly what it is.  Some of the best bits involve a barely recognizable Daniel Baldwin getting exactly what he deserves, Tupac in his film debut as a member of Digital Underground, and a cameo by what must be the first ever in-dash GPS navigation system. Demi Moore is a somewhat surprising inclusion, given that this is the immediate follow-up to her Golden Globe-nominated performance in Ghost and only a year ahead of the release of A Few Good Men. In any case, Moore does a good job as the sole but futile voice of reason in an Aykroyd/Candy/Chase universe.

Good fun. 10/10