Haunted Honeymoon (1986)

“This is gonna be some wedding. A loony for a husband, and Peter Pan for his wife.”

            As soon as I see Gene Wilder in anything I know it is going to be a very funny and very entertaining movie. Haunted Honeymoon not only has Gene Wilder as one of the main stars Gilda Radner and Dom DeLuise also star in the movie. What comedy movie on earth can be funnier than a movie with these three?

            Wilder plays Larry Abbott a radio actor who is engaged to another radio actor named Vicki Pearle (Radner). The radio program tells mystery stories every week and is number one in the country. Ever since Larry got engaged to Vicki he has been going a little crazy (on top of already being neurotic before this). Whenever he hears a storm he stares into space and asks if his tie is straight. The radio sponsor and director are none too pleased with the way Larry is behaving they do not want his outbursts to ruin the show.

            A man walks in telling the sponsor and director that he is Larry’s uncle who happens to be a psychologist. He tells them that in order to cure Larry they need to scare his fear out of him. That weekend Larry and Vicki are to be married in his family’s old home and there with all the family the uncle wants to put his plans into action.

            The Gothic mansion is dark and ominous and as soon as Vicki and Larry arrive it begins to rain. As the other guests arrive they are either sinister or just nuts. Living in the house is Larry’s aunt Kate (DeLuise). She is an eccentric old lady who believes in werewolves and believes there is one running out the grounds. As the night goes on everyone begins to drive Larry crazy. Vicki was not in on the whole plan at first but she is eventually brought into it.

            Of all the things going on with Larry, no one realizes his cousin Francis has been murdered and that someone else has been murdered as well. Now there is a killer going after Larry because he is set to inherit money from Aunt Kate when no one else is.

            I cannot give too much away the movie is just so damn funny it would be a shame to give too much away.

            Gene Wilder is in one of his best roles. No one could do insane and crazy like he could. Not only is Wilder one of the main characters he also wrote and directed the film. The man was just awesome he could do everything. Gilda Radner never fails to be adorable and outrageously hysterical. She has some of my favorite scenes like when she first sees Pfister and she babbling and scared of him and when an old girlfriend of Larry’s keeps going after him she stops the women at Larry’s door, says beat it, and she struts back to her room. Dom DeLuise as a woman is one of the funniest things ever, no one could have played that role better male or female.

            Haunted Honeymoon is one of the best comedy movies ever. It is like most of Wilder’s films and his films with Mel Brooks I can watch them over and over again and know them by heart but I always laugh so hard. 

History of the World: Part 1



“Oh, you are nuts. N-V-T-S, nuts!”

Mel Brooks is the undisputed master of spoof movies. The man just knew how to make excellent comedy. History of the World Pt.1 clearly shows how the man is a true master of comedy. Brooks wrote, produced, directed, and played five different parts in this movie. He takes us through history from the dawn of early man to the cavemen and Vikings, through the Roman Empire to the Inquisition right to the French Revolution.

            My favorite parts of the movie are the Roman Empire and the French Revolution. But before these there are two good scenes. One scene is in the cavemen sequence. Orson Welles narrates the beginning and in the cavemen sequence he says “And of course, with the birth of the artist came the inevitable afterbirth… the critic” and a caveman comes and pees in the wall painting haha. I am currently an Art History major and I love that joke because who is to say what is art and what is not. The other scene is Mel Brooks as Moses and God handing him the Commandments. Brooks comes out as Moses and says “The Lord, the Lord Jehovah has given unto you these fifteen... [drops a tablet] Oy! Ten! Ten Commandments for all to obey!”

            The Roman Empire part is hilarious it contains some of my most favorite movies scenes. There are little jokes here and there like in all of Brooks’ movies to listen for and a lot of them are completely hysterical. The reason I find these part so funny is because of Madeline Kahn as the Empress Nympho. I cry laughing at the scene when she is being taken around town on her bed and she tells the soldiers carrying her “Could you please step on the same foot at the same time! My tits are falling off!” haha. Her character is looking for love and she saves Josephus a black slave excellently played by Gregory Hines. I also cry laughing with the scene when Empress Nympho has to pick a date for the midnight orgy and has the soldiers do a quick time march! Dom DeLuise is a panic as Emperor Nero especially when he pulls things out of his rear end and says “Wash this!” There are so many great scenes in the Roman Empire part that will have you rolling on the floor laughing.

                              

  

 

            The French Revolution part is so wrong yet so good in so many ways. Harvey Korman plays Count de Monet and is constantly telling people that his name is not “count de money.” Mel Brooks as King Louis XVI proclaims “It’s good to be the King” whenever he comes across a pretty lady. Cloris Leachman is so hysterical (what I find so funny about her as an actress is she started out as a serious actress and over her many years of acting just became a comedic actress. She was in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and I could not believe it was her acting in a serious role!). She plays an old French lady leading a group of rebellious people named Madame Defarge. She says “We are so poor we don’t even have our own language just this stupid accent” and someone in the crowd says “We all sound like Maurice Chevailer.”

                                 

            There are so many things in History of the World that only Mel Brooks can get away with such as singing about The Inquisition and executing Jews while he is a Jew himself. No one has ever been able to make a half as decent a spoof movie as Mel Brooks made. Today we have those God awful spoof movies like Meet the Spartans or Epic Movie or Vampires Suck. Those come nowhere near as being spoof movies in any sense they are just annoying. What Brooks does is he takes some points of history or westerns (Blazzing Saddles) or movies (High Anxiety, Young Frankenstein) and respectfully makes them funny. His subtle humor is the best and it’s a shame that no one today wants to see that humor, nowadays is just thrown in our face. Like all of Brooks’ movies, History of the World Pt. 1 is smart and hilarious without going over the top.

            It should be warned that Brooks is what I like to call an equal opportunity offender. But then again if you did not have a sense of humor you would not be watching anything Mel Brooks.