Continental Divide (1981) - Unpersuasive Belushi comedy

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Co-star John Belushi looks unwell in the embrace of beautiful co-star Blair Brown on this poster for Michael Apted's Continental Divide

Ernie is a star journalist in Chicago, where everybody knows him, but where his knack for exposing the powerful is beginning to threaten his safety. And so he gets sent on an assignment to a woman who lives alone in the Rocky Mountains.

 

Continental Divide is written by Lawrence Kasdan (Mumford (1999)) and directed by Michael Apted (The Triple Echo (1972)).

Internal logic must yield to get this high-concept romcom train on a set of tracks: - Why does forceful Ernie go so far away, when he really doesn't want to, - for two weeks!?! His work and the totally predictable, clichéd romance are both elements that are presented stiffly, SPOILER and the ending, in which a pressured Kasdan seemingly wants to have his cake and eat it, too, has him letting the two get married, but then break up, as Ernie jumps on a train back to Chicago, is really bizarre. 

It is a general flaw in Continental Divide that it tonally sits between chairs: At times an honest, romantic drama with a visual nature vs. city contrast, and at other times an over-the-top comedy vehicle for John Belushi (Neighbors (1981)). Of course the film should have been the latter thing from beginning to end. What we get instead is the subversive Belushi magic sterilized for 90 % of the time here in a thin cup of tea posing as a 'good time' film. 

Related post:

Michael Apted: Gorky Park (1983) - Cool Hurt investigates murders in Apted's fine Cold War Moscow thriller

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 9 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 15.5 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain but likely a flop (projected return of 2.22 times its cost)

[Continental Divide was released 1 September (Canada) and runs 103 minutes. It was the first film made by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. Shooting took place from October 1980 - January 1981 in Chicago, Illinois, Washington DC, Colorado, Washington, Los Angeles, California, Idaho, Michigan and Montana. Belushi reportedly was sober for the duration of the shoot but then fell back into a cocaine-driven production with his next - and last - film, Neighbors, which led up to his 1982 death from a cocaine and heroine overdose. The film opened #1 to a 3.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 15.5 mil. $. Its foreign release was limited to 9 other markets, and the result may have been small. A 20 mil. $ final gross is projected, which would rank the film as a flop. It was nominated for a Golden Globe. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Apted returned with P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang (1982, TV movie), First Love (1982, TV-series) and theatrically with Gorky Park (1983). Belushi returned in Neighbors (1981); Blair Brown (Fringe (2008-12)) in American Playhouse (1982, TV-series), Kennedy (1983, miniseries) and theatrically in A Flash of Green (1984). Continental Divide is fresh at 73 % with a 6.20/10 average rating at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Continental Divide?

Phantoms (1998) or, Trouble in Colorado!

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A mysterious flash at night attracts the prospective audience member's curiosity on this poster for Joe Chapelle's Phantoms

Shortly after the arrival of two sisters to a small Colorado town, a ghost chaos descends over it: Lights flicker, alarms go off for no apparent reason, and people are found dead. Along with some policemen and a superstitious doctor, the sisters now fight against 'it'.

 

Phantoms is written by Dean R. Koontz (Odd Thomas (2013, novel)), based on his own same-titled 1983 novel, and directed by Joe Chappelle (Thieves Quartet (1993)).

Koontz' novel may be worth reading (or not), but this sci-fi horror film isn't scary, which is its main problem. Liev Schreiber (Mental (2012)) and Rose McGowan (The Black Dahlia (2006)) add quality, while Ben Affleck (Field of Dreams (1989)) doesn't seem credible as the sheriff, and Peter O'Toole (King Ralph (1991)) is also here - but you can't but wonder why.

 

Related post:

 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 5.6 mil. $ (North America only)

= Uncertain - but likely a huge flop

[Phantoms was released 23 January (USA) and runs 91 minutes. Shooting took place from October - December 1996 in Colorado. It opened #9 to a 3 mil. $ first weekend in North America. If made on a realistic 10 mil. $ budget, and with a projected total world gross of 9 mil. $, the film would rank as a huge flop with a return of 0.9 times its cost. Chappelle returned with Takedown (2000). Affleck returned in Armageddon (1998); McGowan in Devil in the Flesh (1998, video) and theatrically in Southie (1998). Phantoms is rotten at 13 % with a 4.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Phantoms?

Dumb and Dumber/Dumb & Dumber (1994) - The Farrellys brothers and Carrey/Daniels' comedy classic

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+ Best Colorado Movie of the Year + Best Road Movie of the Year 

You'd have to have a pretty cold heart not to smile or guffaw at the poster for Bobby & Peter Farrelly's Dumb and Dumber

QUICK REVIEW:

Best friends and fellow idiots Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas are fired from their jobs and share a dream of starting a worm store. But without any future prospects beyond this, they decide to return the 'forgotten' suitcase of a hot lady who Lloyd just met to Aspen, Colorado.

Dumb and Dumber is a crazy-funny movie that's coarse and has a couple of the stupidest characters the silver screen has ever produced, and yet the film manages to tell of their misadventure in an actually smart way, which is quite an accomplishment.
Jeff Daniels (101 Dalmatians (1996)) and Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)) throw themselves into their characters and the quest with great enthusiasm, and Carrey is totally fantastic. Dumb and Dumber is a generally extremely funny, memorable, well-made and chipper comedy.
It is also the hugely successful debut of great Pennsylvanian writer/director brothers Bobby & Peter Farrelly (Kingpin (1996)).

Related reviews:
 
Peter & Bobby Farrelly: Dumb and Dumber To (2014) or, Harry and Lloyd: Still Dumb and Lovin' It!  
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Hall Pass (2011) - The Farrelly brothers' probably worst film to date 

1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Bobby & Peter Farrelly's Dumb and Dumber

 Watch the original trailer for the film here

Cost: 17 mil. $
Box ofice: 247.2 mil. $
=  Huge hit
[Dumb and Dumber was released December 16 and runs 107 minutes. The film's location scenes were shot in Utah, Colorado and Rhode Island. Carrey's chipped tooth is not an effect: He had his tooth chipped in a boyhood tussle and wears a crown on it normally. Carrey, fresh off the giant success of Ace Ventura, was paid 7 mil. $ to appear in Dumb and Dumber; Daniels, whom New Line Cinema didn't want and tried to scare off, was paid a measly 50k $, in what must be one of the most outrageous wage differences between starring actors in the same film. Dumb and Dumber opened #1 in North America to 16.3 mil. $ and grossed 127.1 mil. $ (51.4 % of the total gross) there. The film got mixed reviews, (Roger Ebert awarded it a measly 2 stars), and Carrey was, outrageously, Razzie-nominated as Worst New Star. The movie topped the holiday season of the year and has spun an animated series, a prequel and a 2014 sequel. Carrey developed a relationship with his love interest in the film played by Lauren Holly (After the Ball (2015)), and they were married for less than a year between 1996-97. Dumb and Dumber is fresh at 66 % with a 5.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Dumb and Dumber?