Main      Site Guide    
At-A-Glance Film Reviews

Caddyshack (1980)

Rating

[1.5]

Reviews and Comments

I am at a complete loss for why this movie has any sort of following, cult though it may be. It's not funny. The script is incompetent; in fact, the only couple of scenes that reveal any sort of understanding of comedy are too juvenile, not to mention stupid, to be funny at all. The rest is sort of aimless, inept, confused slogging through an impassable muddy bog of pointlessness.

Most of the cast is talented, but Ted Knight is the only member that even comes close to hitting the right notes. Unfortunately his character has nothing to do, because he is the stodgy foil the other characters are supposed to oppress. Lacking funny, effective, personable, or even sensible foils, his character is essentially useless. At the end of the movie, for the climactic golf match, I was actually rooting for him, because I couldn't stand to root for Chevy Chase's character, who lacks personality and purpose, nor Rodney Dangerfield's, who was so insufferably annoying I could scarcely believe the movie considered him on the "goodguy" side. Bill Murray, probably the most talented member of the cast, gets the short stick -- he spends the entire movie stupidly and boringly trying to kill a mole.

There aren't a lot of movies I actively despise more than this one. Except for Dangerfield, the cast was talented enough for this movie to be better. It just goes to show if the script is an impotent rock-bottom piece of imbecilic rambling scum, there's not much anyone can do.

Series Entries

Links