I have never seen this movie, but I have heard many negative things about it. I've heard Eddie Murphy has apologized for his part in this debacle. I mean, was it just a crappy movie like Ishtar, or was it worse - i.e., offensive?
Just curious. Please don't make me have to watch this movie to find out what the fuss is all about! :-)
The main reason this pic got blasted was because even though it was a buddy flick (Dudley Moore had top billing), people were expecting the film to revolve around Murphy's character and didn't give it a chance.
shareWhen a movie comes out from the creators of "Howard the Duck", good chance that it will be a stink bomb. Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz started out with a promising career in writing, starting with American Graffiti. But it seems that by mid 80s the quality of their work started to spiral downhill, starting with what is considered the weakest of the Indiana Jones movies: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, then this turkey the same year, and then followed by Howard the Duck in 1986. Looks like George Lucas' midas touch had the opposite effect on them (he was the producer of Howard). I guess Best Defense and Howard Duck were the final nails in the coffin for Huyck and Katz's career.
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If you love a silly crazy comedy, then you'll enjoy this. I laughed a lot. Plus, the fact that this film was made in 1983 (released in 1984) and the setting was an Iraq invasion of Kuwait, makes it the only film to actually predict a war. This movie was brilliant.
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America put the "fun" back into "Fundamentalism".
I think it's a matter of relating. Back in '84 the unemployment rate was about 9% and tech companies were hanging on by their teeth. We were working out of a super store building while they were repossessing the lighting in the production area(true story)vs a bowling alley in the film. Stealing parts for our project out of the junk drawers in everybodies kitchen and off their lawn mowers. (True Story) The product had the backing of the New York Mob (true story), so demonstrations of our progress were crucial. And seven years later ('91) Iraq rolls into Kuwait and starts a war. So what's changed in 25 years? NOTHING ! ! !
This film plays as well now as then. And the line: "...and fat girls tend to cum alot..." is probably one of the greatest/funniest in movie history. I gave this movie a 10. I've been there. I lived it. I know.
i love when that lady says 'god bless you' to dudley and grabs him and picks him up and his legs are all dangling swinging back and forth hahaha oh god so funny.
shareI remember when the film played at a theater I was managing in 84. People were angry because they felt mis-lead by the ads. People were expecting Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy in a buddy action/comedy and weren't aware that Murphy and Moore have no scenes together at all and Murphy's role is no more than about 15 minutes of screen time when you add it all up. The poster should have been a white flag to customers though because Murphy was billed as "Strategic Guest Star." That should have tipped them off to something unusual. I never like to argue comedies with people because they are subjective and no one is wrong or right but I thought the movie was just terrible. Murphy had the only mildly amusing moments but Moore's story is stupid and the whole film never comes together or holds together.
shareEddie Murphy came out on his triumphant return to Saturday Night Live and spent most of his monologue trashing this movie. He called it one of the worst movie's ever made. The ironic thing is that the next week, vcr sales went through the roof. He may have made the company millions by trashing his own movie. I don't think any star had done that before or has done it since.
The other night I was at a birthday party with about 20 of my friends and this movie came up - when we were talking about the worst movies ever. About 16 of 20 people had seen it. Almost all because of Eddie's monologue.
In the end, I don't people hate this movie. They just think it's one of the worst movies ever made.
Actually, that was the XMAS show in 1984 that he hosted. He never hosted again, nor returned to the show, until the recent 40th anniversary special.
I guess he felt that since the film wasn't a big hit, his first flop, he had to joke about it. Also, he really wasn't in much of the film. It is more a Dudley Moore film.
It wasn't terrible, but it didn't really do much with Eddie. He just had a cameo and he was funny, but it wasn't his movie. I guess because Murphy was riding high on two hits, (Cop didn't come out till that winter), people thought he was better than doing this.
shareThis is actually one of those movies that you will either like or wish you had missed it. For me, the first time I watched it was over 10 years ago. I had acquired a large collection of RCA Videodiscs (CED) and this was one of the titles. I thought, "Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy?? Sweet!" So I watched it. While most peeps that have posted to this question are still questioning whether this movie is good or bad, I ended up liking it. Yea, the constant switching between past and present can be a little overwhelming at first but Eddie is clearly the comic relief the film desperately needed. This is one movie I would purchase again only because of the originality and it has two of my favorite 80's actors.
shareTried to watch it on Sky Movies last week but fell asleep as Moore and Murphy had no scenes together. Glad to see I didn't wait it out.
shareI remember seeing this movie on basic cable 10 years ago..My overall impression was that this was a 1982 era Dudley Moore flick that was left unfinished,(despite Moore`s box office power) for lack of a decent plot ending. Although amusing on it`s own was the jittery and malfunctional``Doppler-Gyro``missile guidance-controller..They fast forward to`83-`84,and Eddie Murphy was the new hot persona ,who was hired to resurrect this stalled film,,although his spirited Army soldier character never meets Dudley`s stressed out CEO of Research/Dev.character as mentioned...and a younger pre Law and Order George Dzunza,fresh from tv`s ``Open all Night`` sitcom from the 1981-82 era was funny as well...
I worked at a movie theater in Florida when this came out. Every summer the Will Rogers Institute would do a fund raiser with a short promotional film. The year this movie came out, Dudley Moore was the spokesperson. I remember people booing at the screen when he showed up because of this movie. My coworkers and I talked about the oddness of the poster art. It almost looked like they had photoshopped Eddie into the poster. That explains a lot. The movie is dreadful. The funniest person in the movie is David Rasche (later even funnier as Sledge Hammer!). His scenes as the wacked out "KBG" agent are the best in the movie. It was the only redeeming part for me. Eddie has some comical lines, like when he is making the Iraqi soldier "dance", but other than that this movie deserves its bomb reputation. Its sad because Moore, Murphy and Capshaw were pretty decent actors back then. Only Murphy is still turning out tripe.
shareWell, Dudley Moore is long dead now. And it is KGB.
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