Modern Problems

Modern Problems is a 1981 American fantasy comedy film written and directed by Ken Shapiro and starring Chevy Chase, Patti D'Arbanville, and Dabney Coleman. The film grossed $26.2 million in the United States. A DVD release of the film was issued in 2005.

Modern Problems
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKen Shapiro
Produced byAlan Greisman
Michael Shamberg
Written byKen Shapiro
Tom Sherohman
Arthur Sellers
Starring
Music byDominic Frontiere
CinematographyEdmond L. Koons
Edited byMichael Jablow
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • December 25, 1981 (1981-12-25)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8 million[1]
Box office$26,154,211

Plot

Max Fiedler (Chevy Chase) is an air traffic controller at New York's Kennedy International. Airport whose life is slowly going down the drain. His girlfriend, Darcy, has just left him because of his jealousy and negativity. Now, everywhere he goes he seems to run into her with Barry, her narcissistic old friend, which drives Max crazy. One night while he's driving home from a party that turned out being at a gay nightclub in Lower Manhattan, a tanker truck spills nuclear waste onto his car and through his open sunroof, covering him with glowing green goo. The next day, he notices that he has developed telekinetic powers. With this newfound discovery, Max decides to put his powers to use by striking back at his tormentors - primarily by ruining Barry's attempts to woo Darcy. With newfound optimism & confidence, he slowly begins to win back the love of Darcy.

Things come to a head, however, when Max is asked to spend the weekend at the summer beach house of Brian (Brian Doyle-Murray), a paraplegic friend, who is now living with Max's ex-wife Lorraine. Brian invited others as well, including self-confidence author and womanizer Mark Winslow (Dabney Coleman), who immediately has designs on Darcy. Winslow constantly demeans and derides Max, while trying to seduce Darcy (although his egomanical bragging and unabashed nudity just seem to alienate her). With his new confidence waning, Max finally cracks, using his powers to humiliate Winslow while also freaking out the other guests. Finally, he sees himself becoming a monster, and by a fortuitous stroke of lightning his powers are transferred to Dorita (Nell Carter), the voodoo-practicing maid. Now understanding his odd behavior, Darcy forgives him and Max finally realizes that she truly does love him.

Cast

Production

Michael Shamberg and Doug Kenney had a deal with Ken Shapiro to make a film—Kenney had a title, Teenage Communists from Outerspace and Shapiro wanted to make a film about telekinesis. This led to Modern Problems.[2]

Filming started in July 1980.[3] It was Chase's fifth movie in two years following Caddyshack, Seems Like Old Times, Oh Heavenly Dog and Under the Rainbow.[4] "There were problems doing the film," said Chase later. "There were times when I wasn't happy at all with the way things were going. Though I'm bound to say considering it was Ken Shapiro's first film as director he's come up with a very funny film."[5]

Chase was nearly electrocuted while filming a flying scene involving wires and had to spend several weeks in hospital.[5]

The film's release was complicated by the 1981 air traffic controller's strike.[6]

The film was recut prior to release to get an R rating which upset the writers who felt the film's best laughs were lost.[7]

Reception

The film was released on Christmas Day without advance screenings to the press. "I'm really happy with Modern Problems," said Chase prior to release. "I don't pretend to know why Fox isn't showing it to the press. I can only suppose it's because they don't want to take the chance of getting bad reviews."[5]

The New York Times said "it's not that Modern Problems is so bad, though it is incredibly sloppy, but that it's the kind of movie that doesn't need reviews to find its audience. The members of that audience, whose inner clocks are set by their television habits, don't worry much about consistency or point of view. And, having short attention spans, they immediately forget the long dull patches that separate the truly funny sequences."[8]

See also

References
  1. "Modern Problems (1981) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  2. At the Movies; Chevy Chase up in the air over new role. Chase, Chris. New York Times 24 Dec 1981: C.6.
  3. BRIEFLY Casting notes from all over The Globe and Mail; Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]02 Mar 1981: P.17.
  4. MOVIES: Chevy Chase, Hollywood's busiest actor Vernon, Scott. Chicago Tribune 16 Aug 1981: d28.
  5. "NO HOOPLA FOR CHASE'S NEW MOVIE". Mann, Roderick. Los Angeles Times8 Dec 1981: G1.
  6. FILM CLIPS: A SKELETON IN CLOSET OF 'BODIES' FILM CLIPS Boyer, Peter J. Los Angeles Times 12 Aug 1981: g1.
  7. FILM CLIPS: THE PRICE OF A PG RATING FILM CLIPS: PRICE OF A PG RATING Boyer, Peter L. Los Angeles Times 9 Dec 1981: h1.
  8. "CHEVY CHASE, TRAFFIC CONTROLLER": [Review] Canby, Vincent. The New York Times, 28 Dec 1981: C.16.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.