So, as I was talking to people on Saturday, I discovered that most people know about the movie Meatballs. I mean, Bill Murray is in it, and that's enough to garner happy memories, whether the movie is good or not. But those same people don't realize that the series made it to 4(!). I mean, obviously the quality of the movies declines with each installment, and when the quality wasn't that high to begin with, the results for the fourth installment are really only for the most hearty of moviegoers.
So why review it at all? I don't know. I also don't know why I have seen Meatballs 4 much more than one time. It's honestly not that good or worth the amount of time I've watched it, or even the amount of time I'm going to spend writing about it. But, maybe writing about it will be funny (unlike the movie).
I'm going to spend as little on the plot as I can, simply because it's simply the framework for a staggering amount of water sports. And let me tell you, water sports are not something you want to build a movie on. Anyways, the movie is about a water sports camp, led by a post-Twin Peaks Jack Nance (more about him later), that's struggling to make ends meet. In order to drum up business, new/returning program director Ricky Wade is brought on. Ricky is played by everyones favorite 80's teen star Corey Feldman. Hijinks and lots (and lots) of water sports ensue.
Ultimately, this is a movie that is about 8 years too late, which would have put it squarely in the midst of the 80's teen comedies of which it's clearly trying to be. There's shower scenes, making fun of the fat camper, the evil owner of the competing camp, her two ineffectual henchmen, montages, and a skunk. This is a movie that should have known better by this time.
But the cast - Corey Feldman has been both a good actor and a punchline. And I love him for both of those things. He's clearly not giving the movie his all, but neither is he phoning it in. He seems to be just acting as himself. Nothing wrong with that. And Jack Nance - this is Erasehead himself. I've read enough about aging actors and their willingness to take roles based off time, location, and money. I mean, I understand why he was hired. It's just so disconcerting to see him and hear his trademark delivery in a movie like this. But maybe that's one of the reasons I keep coming back. I don't know. And the evil owner of the other camp - yeah, that's played by Sarah Douglas who was Ursa in Superman 2. She doesn't have nearly as much charisma in this as she did as Ursa, but she's still a quality villain.
But does any of this explain why I own the movie? Let alone have watched it more than once? No. No it doesn't. This isn't one of those reviews where I'm trying to convince you to see something. And I'm not telling you not to see it, either. Although to be fair, you probably weren't going to watch it anyway, unless I said it was the greatest underrated comedy you've never seen. It's not. But it's so dumb and odd, that I feel I'm doing a disservice by not writing about it.
* (just because)
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