I don't know if I'd say brilliant. But I liked it. The first time I watched this movie, I was doing a report on the life of John Belushi for a Jr. High school project. I read the several books on his life and later watched this film. I did like the fresh aspect of having a John review his life with an angel. But the lack of substance got to me. If you read his biography, Johns life focused on his wife Judy, and his ambition to make his life matter. When drugs started getting in the way, John hired a former DEA agent, I think they called him the Bear or something like that, to watch over his life and keep temptation away. But John, like many celebrities, was handed drugs as an offering, the same way you give houseguests coffee. That will undermine any attempt to sober up. The movie was only snippits of his life, but focused on more negative instead of showing that John wanted to be positive but struggled with his own problems. I wanted to see John preparing for his SNL audition, John's reaction to his first Movie Premeire, and I wanted to see when John passed out while filming the gas stations scene in Blues Brothers. I give this movie only a 5 because if you can't make a really great picture about someones life, then don't make it. This one didn't go above and beyond...
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PeteStud
18 years ago
i saw it for the first time last night..its pretty good although depressing. I can see why others dont like it...I thought he did a great Belushi impression. Though i must say , the definate BELUSHI bio pic has yet to be made. A lot more of the fun stuff shoulda been included...
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18 years ago
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staradrael
18 years ago
This film was an anti-drug commercial using Belushi as the spokesperson. One day, Dan & Judy will hopefully create a film that captures all of John & not just his drug problems.
With the release of the book "Belushi" by Dan & Judy not long back, i'm hopeing there is a great film in the works, maybe even feature documentary.
I too bought this film on VHS for about $5 in a movie sale at my local video shop, being a Huge Blues Brothers Fan and Elwood impersoantor. Its was shocking and sad, but at the same time, the performance by Chiklis was awesome. I'd personally love to see a Blues Brothers tribute show with him playing Joliet Jake. I've never seen "The Sheild", so with this film as my only reference to his acting skills, oh and fantastic 4, I can safely say he's a very talented man.
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MrBlondNYC
18 years ago
"Don't kid yourselves assuming he was a sweet lovable guy just because he might have played various characters of such qualities. This goes for Chris Farley as well (or actually any actor - stage or screen - famous or unknown.)...With all of the above in mind, what people love about the two (including myself) is their talents, abilities to make others laugh, acting skills and characters, but as I never met any of the two entertainers (Belushi died 4 months prior to my birth) I have no idea (other than what I've read or heard from their close ones) what they were like in real life"
By ALL accounts Belushi was indeed a very nice sweet guy in real life. Same with Farley. I have an idea of what they were like because every single person that ever knew them have attested to this in interviews. The only times when they may not have been nice was when they were high as hell. But just because they were drug addicts does not make them bad people. The problem with Wired (which if you didn't see you shouldn't assume so much) was that it focused primarily on the drug addiction and showed none of the reasons why his wife, his friends or his fans loved him so. Scenes depicting his relationship with his wife and Dan Aykroyd are so short and poorly written that you don't get the feeling of a real bond between them. Scenes depicting him on "SNL" are also so poorly done that you get no feeling that this was a talented man. Ostensibly, the tragedy here was the loss of a loving husband, good friend and large talent. But none of that is realistically portrayed in the film. Therefore, it's pretty much about some drug addict in a downward spiral. If the primary purpose of the film was to show the horrors of drug addiction, why make it under the guise of a biopic? What kind of biopic would "Ray" have been if it mostly focused on his drug addiction? Or "Lenny"? Or "Elvis"? Or "Sid and Nancy"?
The revolution will now be televised. Sundays on Adult Swim.
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