Pee-wee as Himself (2025)

Paul Reubens's death in 2023 hit me hard and continues to hit me hard, so it's nice to have this documentary produced in his final years that feels like he's speaking to us directly from beyond the grave. As a private person, he has tried to control every aspect of his story and we are granted access to parts of his life that haven't been revealed before. It recontextualizes his entire career through his own words. Paul is very self-aware of the camera and how he comes across, and he tends to play with our perception of that. I was a little disappointed at how it glosses over the latter half of his life and leaves us with more questions than answers, but it's nice we got anything at all before his tragic and untimely passing, in order to give some much-needed closure.

3 bags of tricks out of 5

Pee-wee's Big Holiday (2016)

Paul Reubens struggled for years to bring Pee-wee Herman back to the big screen, but had to compromise when Judd Apatow and Paul Rust made an offer for Netflix instead. The result is a little bit uneven, but still a welcome return for the much-beloved character. This time, he works at a small town diner when he meets Joe Manganiello (playing himself), who invites him to his birthday party in New York City, so Pee-wee decides to leave his familiar surroundings for the first time and travel cross-country. It's another Pee-wee sequel that bears no resemblance to his other on-screen portrayals and essentially functions as a standalone film. It's extremely fun in small doses, but really lacks the direction and vision that Tim Burton brought back in 1985.

Sadly, this was to become Paul's final portrayal of the character. R.I.Pee-wee.

3 squeaking balloons out of 5

The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway (2011)

Paul Reubens at long last got a chance to reprise the popular character he was known for in a 2010 revival of the original stage show that began his career. It updates the original story for modern audiences while incorporating a lot of new Pee-wee lore, including appearances by many characters from his 1986-1990 TV series, Pee-wee's Playhouse, making it both an epilogue and reunion for many of the performers. It's a lot of fun to see Paul inhabiting the role again and fitting the grey suit like a glove without ever missing a beat. This one is mostly for the fans, but there is a lot of love and nostalgia throughout.

3 magic words out of 5

Big Top Pee-wee (1988)

This one is mostly for me. 

As a kid, I didn't much care for this movie because it was completely removed from the world of Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Pee-wee's Playhouse. It's only through time and experience that I've come to find it brilliant on those merits alone. It's so completely different from everything else, it's kind of magical to me. Pee-wee plays a farmhand who dreams of being a lounge singer when a traveling circus rolls through town and recruits him, capturing his imagination. It's a throwback type of Pollyanna movie full of carnival set pieces out of Paul Reubens's own childhood. This is a weird, oddball movie that doesn't make a whole lot of narrative sense, yet that is what I must reward it on, through and through.

3½ high-wire acts out of 5

The Pee-wee Herman Show (1981)

A filmed version of Paul Reubens's stage show from 1981, this early HBO special introduced the character of eternal man-child Pee-wee Herman to the world at large. Taking place in an imaginative playhouse set, it features a twisted and surreal parody of '50s children's TV shows (e.g. Howdy Doody) with a bit of a punk rock edge. Captain Carl (Phil Hartman), Miss Yvonne (Lynne Marie Stewart) and Jambi the Genie (John Paragon) are all in tow. It's a bit darker, rough around the edges and more adult in tone than than the Pee-wee's Playhouse program that would develop later, but it's still a great showcase for wild and bizarre humor featuring puppets and humans alike.

4 luckiest boys in the world out of 5

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025)

41 years later ("it's one more, innit?"), Marty DiBergi follows up his successful documentary chronicling Spın̈al Tap's reunion and farewell concert. Again.

Similar to that film, it has the same laid-back cadence of improv, but this time it's more amusing than funny. Somehow, it feels like it's missing something. There aren't enough classic riffs. Cameos from the likes of Paul McCartney and Elton John are not enough to elevate it on their own. It feels unfinished and lacks a satisfying resolution after a four decade wait. I find it weird that all the press interviews I've seen with the cast in character are better than the movie itself, which feels like it's been truncated from its original form and cut out half the jokes. "Conflicted" doesn't even begin to cover my range of emotions.

The original remains a certified classic. This one is the equivalent of hearing a cover of your favorite band. Unnecessary and doesn't bring much to the table.

3 pedal boards out of 5

Note: Upon viewing it a second time, it clicked with me more. I've decided to raise my rating from a 2½ to a 3, but the essence of the nut remains the same.

The Return of Spinal Tap (1992)

AKA: A Spinal Tap Reunion: The 25th Anniversary London Sell-Out

In honor of Spın̈al Tap's new album release ("Break Like the Wind"), we have another rockumentary following them on their latest tour. Mostly consists of stage footage of Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) performing at the Royal Albert Hall for their "final" reunion concert. Where the joke ends and the performance begins, no one knows. These guys are basically fused as these characters forever at this point. It's mostly played straight as a concert film, blurring the lines between art and life even more. I found it enjoyable, but nothing new.

2½ incorrect Stonehenge proportions out of 5

The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2003)

A retread of the 1978 mockumentary about the Prefab Four, which utilizes lost scenes and a wealth of material captured for the original film, while featuring new wraparound segments and interviews from contemporaries. It's basically the same jokes as before, but it was so good the first time, it still works here.

The songs are genuinely great in their own right, you almost forget it's farce.

3 triangular records out of 5

The Rutles: All You Need is Cash (1978)

Long before Spinal Tap, there were The Rutles, a parody of The Beatles created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes. Seamlessly blending archival footage with newly filmed sequences, this mockumentary chronicles the rise and fall of the Prefab Four from Rutland. It benefits from knowing the history of The Beatles because it follows the details so closely and the music pastiches capture that era perfectly. There are times it hinges so closely on authenticity, you miss the joke entirely because it's not being played for laughs. It maintains a bit of that Monty Python rhythm, while Eric Idle plays a number of roles throughout.

3½ tight trousers out of 5

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

The real and not-at-all completely made-up story of "Weird Al" Yankovic, who rose up from humble beginnings as an accordion-playing parodist to become one of the greatest original pop icons of all-time, to the envy of other artists. 

In the same vein as Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, it skewers a lot of usual biopic tropes and goes off the rails in a big way, although it's never quite as funny as it could have been if it leaned completely into spoof territory. Once you're in on the joke, it gets hard to top itself. Daniel Radcliffe feels weirdly miscast as the lead, but it's fun to see the likes of Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson), Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood) and other famous names pop up along the way.

3 Yankovic bumps out of 5

Note: This film is so low-budget, they couldn't actually use the rights to many of Al's songs, which is inconceivable since he remains the producer on this. Maybe that's part of the joke.

UHF (1989)

AKA: The Vidiot from UHF

"Weird Al" Yankovic plays George Newman, a man with big dreams and a vivid imagination who lucks into managing a failing low-budget television station where he commissions a series of eclectic programming choices, including that of promoting the janitor (Michael Richards) to children's television host.

This movie is just plain fun and leans into the absurd and the extreme, as Al brings his parodic sensibilities to spoof everything from Gandhi to Conan the Barbarian. It's one of those films that grows with you over time, and follows in the tradition of over-the-top slapstick comedies like Airplane! and Top Secret!

3½ spatulas out of 5

Stay Tuned (1992)

One of my favorite films as a kid that probably won't connect with everyone. If you were obsessed with television in the '80s and '90s, it'll strike a certain chord. A suburban couple is hooked up with a big screen TV and a satellite dish promising 666 channels, but the price is their immortal soul. They must survive 24 hours in the television landscape as they bounce from channel to channel. All of this is an excuse to parody everything from sitcoms, cartoons and music videos. This movie is amazing and I won't listen to anyone who says otherwise.

Feels a bit like a love child between Beetlejuice and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

3½ horrifying meta realizations out of 5

Defending Your Life (1991)

A man dies and finds himself under litigation in the afterlife (among every other denizen) where he is forced to defend his choices in life to determine whether he has to go back (be reincarnated) or move onto the next plane of existence. What's brilliant about this movie is that it isn't held down by any particular ideology or religious convention and assimilates all these abstract ideas of what happens after we die. At once a humorous, whimsical rumination on life, it's another great unconventional fantasy comedy and unique premise for a movie that has been imitated countless times but never done better.

5 past lives out of 5

After Hours (1985)

Martin Scorsese's pitch-black comedy is the perfect example of a cult movie that keeps getting better and better the more times you see it. I've watched this probably a half dozen times throughout various points in my life and yet so much of it remains embedded in my subconscious. It perfectly manages to encapsulate that feeling of 'after hours,' when things don't quite seem real and yet possibilities remain endless. It takes place over one night, in what feels like either a fever dream or a nightmarish hellscape, depending on your lucidity. It's best to take this journey alone, without any prep beforehand.

Watch it after midnight while severely sleep deprived for best results.

5 uncanny sculptures out of 5

The Lonely Guy (1984)

After discovering his girlfriend in bed with another man, Larry Hubbard is downgraded to lonely guy. He befriends fellow lonely guy Warren, who gives him tips like buying a fern for company, getting a dog to meet women and not to nap more than once a day to avoid the shock of remembering who you are.

The initial premise of this film is ingenious, and it's worth it for all the setups that feel all-too-familiar. After that, it settles into a bit of a conventional plot which drags the rest of the movie down, but it's full of so many moments of sheer brilliance and depressing truths, I can't award it anything less than:

3½ cries in the night out of 5

The Roses (2025)

An update on The War of the Roses which tones down and loses all of what made the original feel so dark and memorable. After 10 years of marriage, resentments start to brew, and a husband and wife are at each other's throats, leaving the lawyers, families, and everyone in their orbit in marital collateral. It lacks much of the bitterness and viciousness which made the 1989 film good. This one doesn't compare at all; it's tamer and doesn't have the conviction to push its limits as far. Feels like we're being edged but we never get to finish.

1 Julia Child oven out of 5

The War of the Roses (1989)

A fairy tale romance ends in embittered and protracted divorce proceedings in a fight for the house and all their possessions, which becomes more about payback and petty revenge. Director Danny DeVito portrays the lawyer, while Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner play the hapless couple, reuniting them and undoing their happily ever after from Romancing the Stone. I love DeVito's kinetic visual flair, which feels like it owes a lot to German Expressionism.

This is a darkly satirical comedy that will scare you off marriage for life.

3 chandeliers out of 5

Throw Momma from the Train (1987)

Danny DeVito's directorial debut is a pitch black comedy about a nebbish middle-aged man who lives with his overbearing mother and plots her demise when he becomes inspired by Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train and gets a struggling writer (Billy Crystal) to do his dirty work for him, in exchange for doing his ex-wife in. It's a comedy of errors that is frequently funny, and Momma (portrayed by Anne Ramsey) is a hilariously terrifying presence.

3 "The night was...moist" out of 5 

Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)

Joe works a soul-crushing job and feels like death all the time. He goes to the doctor who tells him he only has 6 months left to live. What will he do with his remaining time? Travel to the South Pacific and throw himself into a volcano, of course. That's the setup. It's up to you if you want to follow him there. This is a wonderfully whimsical fantasy adventure and one of my favorite films.

4½ floatable luggage out of 5

Big (1988)

Some films are so ingrained into who I am as a person that they are hard to look at objectively. Such is the case with Big, about a boy who makes a wish on a fortune-teller machine that comes true, and must suddenly contend with the trials and tribulations being an adult, without any of the experience or tools. Of course, it's a fantasy film, so anything is possible, and he ends up falling backwards into a dream job as a toy tester, while attracting a beautiful young executive with his boyish charms. It's just naïve enough to sidestep any grandstanding moral issues (not that I care about such things anyway) and leaves you longing for those innocent days, before life got too complicated.

5 walking pianos out of 5

Splash (1984)

It's your typical man meets fish story. In a twist on the mermaid myth, Daryl Hannah plays a mute and mysterious woman who develops a fascination for a lonely, lovelorn man in this literal fish out of water tale. What I love about this film is how romantic and out of step with reality it feels. It makes you believe anything is possible and transcends all logic. It's pure fantasy and an escape from an irrational, insufferable world. This is what the movies are all about.

4½ counts of indecent exposure out of 5

American Graffiti (1973)

Before George Lucas redefined modern cinema with the Star Wars universe, he brought us the quintessential coming-of-age comedy set in 1962, featuring fast cars, cute girls and the greatest rock 'n' roll soundtrack of all time. What this film captures so brilliantly is what it was like to live in that era during that last age of innocence, as Lucas pulls deeply from his own personal teenage memories. Featuring early performances from the likes of Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Harrison Ford and Suzanne Somers, it was a great launching pad for many careers and solidified Lucas as a competent and capable filmmaker (which would later become overshadowed by all those Star Wars films).

5 Wolfman Jack monologues out of 5

Animal House (1978)

AKA: National Lampoon's Animal House

Before Porky's and Revenge of the Nerds, there was the outrageous fraternity comedy known as Animal House, the first film produced by National Lampoon. Taking place in 1962, it follows the exploits of a troublemaking fraternity who challenges the authority of the dean and the competing frat house. The result is pure unadulterated anarchy and cements it the best college comedy of its time. Of particular note is John Belushi as Bluto, who steals every scene that he's in. It's crass and tasteless in a way that movies don't have the guts to be anymore. A product of its time for sure, but one that is immensely revisitable.

5 food fights! out of 5

Blazing Saddles (1974)

A classic that has persisted more than 50 years, this send-up of the Western genre is as irreverent today as ever. Only his third film at the time (following The Producers and The Twelve Chairs), and released the same year as Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks was on fire in the 1970s. The plot concerns a dead end little town being appointed its first black sheriff, Bart. He befriends the local drunk held in a jail cell as they plot a way to turn things around for both of them. The details are not as important as the brass balls sense of humor it carries throughout, which honestly feels quaint in some respects. It's a direct reaction to the 1950s, but the social commentary is sharp and never punches down. Most filmmakers wouldn't possess the nuance to attempt such a thing today, so it remains another capsule frozen in time. This is essentially a live-action cartoon, and like Monty Python, contains a holy grail of classic gags.

5 bean-fueled campfire scenes out of 5

Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

The band is getting back together, save for John Belushi who passed away in 1982 and was the beating heart and soul of it. This 18 years too late sequel isn't great, but it's a lot better than I appraised it back when it was first released. Of course, it suffers from the deficit of Jake Blues, who is the main impetus for "getting the band back together" in this sequel, while John Goodman more or less fills the role of Elwood's new sidekick. The years have been kind to this film, as it's aged much better than my memory of it. It mostly serves as tribute to Belushi and all those who have fallen since, including many performers who are featured here. This film is more musical performance than actual plot, but it's frequently entertaining and just weird enough to command my attention.

3 Bluesmobiles out of 5

The Blues Brothers (1980)

One of the most successful movies based on a Saturday Night Live musical sketch featured John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as Jake and Elwood Blues. Recently paroled, and looking to get back in good graces, they're on a mission from God to prevent the foreclosure of the Catholic orphanage where they were raised, all the while being on the run from cops, neo-Nazis, a country band and a mystery woman out for blood. The music is great, the spirit is anarchic, and it's just a fun time for all involved. Contains some of the most expensive action sequences ever filmed, not to mention fabulous cameos from legendary music performers. This is a time capsule worth uncovering.

5 police chases out of 5

Caddyshack II (1988)

Sequel to the 1980 classic comedy is a major downgrade in quality, although with the benefit of hindsight, it's not nearly as bad as it's been painted. Chevy Chase is the only actor who returns, but he's joined by Dan Aykroyd (who takes over the Bill Murray role) and Jackie Mason (who plays the Rodney Dangerfield character). Plus, that gloating animatronic gopher is back. The biggest slight against it is that they toned down the naughty R-rated humor and whiffed it with a watered-down PG rating, ensuring that no one is happy.

2 Kenny Loggins songs out of 5

Caddyshack (1980)

Harold Ramis's classic sports comedy has a lot of good things going for it; namely Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield as two freewheeling golfers crashing a stuffy old country club, but most people will undoubtedly be well acquainted with Bill Murray as the groundskeeper trying to outsmart a gopher who's digging holes throughout the green. There's a lot going on here and most of it works, so long as you're in an '80s frame of mind. It's politically incorrect, outrageous and irreverent. So it's got that going for it, which is nice.

4 pool floaters out of 5

Vegas Vacation (1997)

A bit of the spark is gone in the fourth Griswold family adventure, but it's still a rowdy good time if you're into Chevy Chase at his manic best. Clark decides to take the family out on a classy trip to Las Vegas to renew his vows with Ellen, while Rusty tries underage gambling and Audrey becomes an exotic dancer. The film benefits from Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), returning from two of the previous films. Like the city of Vegas itself, it's a bit hacky, but has its charms.

3 dam tours out of 5

National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)

Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo return, while the rest of the cast gets a shakeup (a running gag that continues throughout the series). The Griswolds win an all-expense-paid trip to Europe and we're off to the races. This film is noticeably rougher compared to its predecessor, and the jokes are broader, but it's still fun to see the Griswolds causing carnage across the world, from Chicago to London, Paris, West Germany and Rome. I don't know why this stuff tickles me so. To see someone trying so hard and failing is relatable, I guess.

3½ unlucky bike riders out of 5

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

"I must be crazy. I'm on a pilgrimage to see a moose. Praise Marty Moose!"

The classic road trip comedy about a well-meaning father (Chevy Chase) who tries to take his wife and kids on a good old-fashioned family vacation, while everything goes wrong at every turn. John Hughes adapts the memories of his youth while Harold Ramis directs the mayhem. It's down and dirty, but this film is pitch-perfect and I won't hear any differently. That's it. That's the review.

5 girls in a red Ferrari out of 5

Confess, Fletch (2022)

After a number of fits and starts, we finally get a follow-up to Fletch, but it leaves much to be desired. Jon Hamm steps into the role as the investigative journalist hired to track down a missing art collection, but he has big shoes to fill. Unfortunately, this iteration is missing a lot of the trademark wisecracking humor and almost all of the disguises. It wasn't completely terrible, but the plotting is predictable and it's not something I would choose to watch again.

1½ yachts out of 5

Fletch Lives (1989)

Fletch finds himself the sole inheritor of an 80-acre estate in the Deep South, where he promptly quits his job as a journalist in order to retire. From there, he quickly becomes embroiled in a murder plot, the Ku Klux Klan, a televangelist megachurch, and other toxic waste. This 1989 sequel is looked down on for a number of reasons, but it's the strength of Chase's performance that really elevates the whole thing for me. It's diminishing returns, but as long as you go into this knowing it's not as good as its predecessor, you'll have a decent time.

2½ plantation dreams out of 5

Fletch (1985)

Chevy Chase is Irwin M. Fletcher, an undercover reporter investigating a drug trafficking ring on the beaches of Los Angeles who gets mixed up in a murder for hire plot. His arsenal is a well versed series of aliases and disguises that he uses to get himself in and out of trouble. Chase settles into the role with ease, and it's this kind of bumbling, sarcastic, quick-witted wiseacre that he always excelled at. A quite enjoyable and frequently hilarious detective comedy.

3½ prostate exams out of 5

Three Amigos (1986)

Three recently out-of-work silent film actors known for their popular role as a trio of heroic gunfighters are recruited by a desperate Mexican village under attack by a gang of banditos who mistake them for the genuine article.

The real charm of this movie comes out of the chemistry between Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short, who bounce off each other seamlessly as they remain ignorant of what's happening. It was never particularly well regarded, even at the time of its release, but it's a weirdly reassuring Western comedy from a period of film that's fun to revisit from time to time again.

3 singing bushes out of 5

Note: This is a duplicate nut because I'm an idiot and didn't check first.

The Three Stooges (2012)

I grew up as a dedicated Stoogehead, so the recasting was a hard sell for me, but man...this was actually a surprisingly loving effort to try and recreate the feeling of The Three Stooges for the modern era. Will Sasso in particular embodies the spirit of Curly. It's a film that is completely imperfect, but I admire it a lot for what it's trying to do, and the Farrellys were the perfect guys for the job. This kind of slapstick comedy never goes out of style.

3 eye-pokes out of 5

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

A remake of the 1972 film about a shallow man who quickly courts and marries a beautiful woman, then realizes they have nothing in common and falls for another woman on their honeymoon. As always, Ben Stiller excels at playing the hapless sap, but this one has more of a mean streak than other romantic comedies. It's raunchy and offensive, which gets bonus points in my book, but this is not one of the Farrelly brothers' best. The original holds up much better.

2 cures for a jellyfish sting out of 5

Fever Pitch (2005)

AKA: The Perfect Catch

The story of a man obsessed with the Red Sox and his courtship with a woman across a year of baseball games as he tries to conform her to his world. If the Farrellys wanted to show that they could do conventional, middle of the road PG-13 romantic comedies, they certainly proved it here. If you don't have even a passing interest in sports, you'll surely be bored out of your mind, like I was.

A remake of the 1997 UK film of the same name (based on the book by Nick Hornsby), adapted from football (soccer) to baseball for American audiences.

1½ season tickets out of 5

Stuck on You (2003)

Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear play conjoined twins who have been stuck in a rut together for 32 years, and decide they need a new start. They head to Hollywood where one can pursue his acting dreams, while the other courts a romantic relationship, but each remains an obstacle in the other's life. Since the Farrellys are also joined at the hip at this point, they pull a lot of the jokes and camaraderie from their own experience to inform the script. The result is just entertaining enough, but it falls short of the rest of their filmography.

2½ giant teddy bears out of 5

Shallow Hal (2001)

Hal values looks over everything until a chance encounter in an elevator where he becomes hypnotized by a self-help guru who allows him to see others for their inner beauty. The logic falls apart once you realize you can't tell that just by looking at someone either. Also, why is true beauty presented as identical to flawless outer beauty? Once you accept the magical premise, you realize it's a kind of reverse superpower where if fat and ugly people are attractive to you, then it ups your chance of success. There are so many flaws in this high concept, but it's best to just go with it. It's very funny and moving at times. I've always loved this movie up until a certain point and then I don't.

2½ Morton's toes out of 5

Kingpin (1996)

The Farrellys follow up their successful Dumb & Dumber with the bowling comedy Kingpin, about a washed up ex-bowler (Woody Harrelson) who takes on a promising young talent in a naive Amish farmer (Randy Quaid) with the promise of winning a one million dollar tournament and getting his revenge along the way. The Farrellys were the masters at this kind of raucous comedy, once upon a time, balancing nail-biting pathos with side-splitting humor. 

I always saw this movie as a bizarre counterpart to The Big Lebowski. 

3½ ball returns out of 5

Note: It comes in two flavors: PG-13 and R. You know which one to go for.

There's Something About Mary (1998)

Poor lovestruck loser Ted (Ben Stiller) never got over the girl of his dreams after an incident in his youth left him scarred. Years later, he hires a shady investigator to track her down and that's when matters get complicated.

This remains one of my most memorable theater experiences. Full of broad belly laughs, you hardly ever see this type of "swing for the fences" comedy anymore. It's refreshing to visit all these years later because it still has the same effect on me. It's the perfect marriage between gross-out humor and heart that really sticks the landing and cements it as a modern comedy classic.

4½ squirts of hair gel out of 5

Me, Myself & Irene (2000)

The Farrelly Brothers' uproarious comedy about a Rhode Island state trooper with "Jekyll & Hyde" split personality disorder is criminally underrated and vulgar to the extreme. I remember watching this in theaters on opening day and people rolling in the aisles and that's what stays with me the most. Good times. Along with Dumb & Dumber, the Farrellys gift us one of Jim Carrey's funniest performances, and the subtle way he's able to "switch" from Charlie to Hank never fails to delight me. Like The Mask, it's extreme wish fulfillment, especially if you have a hair trigger and ever wanted to go off on people.

4 cocks up the ass out of 5

Liar Liar (1997)

A lawyer who can't lie. Hilarity ensues. This might have been a forgettable comedy if not for the brilliant physical comedic performance of Jim Carrey, and it is gleefully profane for a "family" film. I'm always surprised they never tried milking this idea for all it's worth, because it's such a great concept to suppress one's natural instincts. Jim is at the top of his game here and it shows.

4 reeeee blue pens out of 5

The Cable Guy (1996)

In a sharp turn from his earlier roles, Jim Carrey embraces the darkness in this satirical black comedy about a lonely cable guy who becomes obsessed when one of his customers (Matthew Broderick) bribes him for free cable, and inserts himself into his life, upturning it in every way. Critically reviled at the time of its release, it's since attained a cult following and showcases Carrey's unique ability to turn on a dime. It's much better than I gave it credit for at the time.

3½ CABLE GUBLAHS out of 5

The Mask (1994)

Stanley Ipkiss is a mild-mannered bank teller who is treated like a doormat by all until he comes across a magical mask that taps into his id and unleashes his inner superhero. Full of trademark catchphrases and Carrey's dynamic ability to turn himself into a cartoon character, the CGI is almost unnecessary here.

Based on the Dark Horse comic of the same name, the bright and bold color scheme at times reminded me of Batman Forever, which Carrey would go on to star in the next year, while Cameron Diaz (in her first role) is smokin' hot as a femme fatale that brings to mind Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

It's a bit of self-indulgence and wish fulfillment, but satisfying at every turn.

4 wolf whistles out of 5

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)

Trading an urban environment for the jungles of Africa, Ace has achieved enlightenment and become one with nature when he's summoned to rescue a tribe's sacred white bat, Shikaka, from poachers. After that, the plot becomes irrelevant as Jim Carrey is let off his leash and causes havoc to all who meet him. This is another one of those raucous comedies where you can't analyze it too much or it loses all its value. It's fucking hilarious and I could list enough memorable scenes to cement it as a classic. I was originally going to give it a lower score, but upon revisiting it, I think it holds up as well as the original.

4 birthing rhinos out of 5

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

As far as great comedies go, Ace sits at the top of the heap. Jim Carrey had an incredible string of hits in the 1990s, from his stint on sketch comedy series In Living Color to The Mask, Dumb & Dumber, and many more, but his first major studio hit is still as funny as it was 30 years ago. This shit is over the top, weird and audacious, but so singular in its stupidity that it transcends further critical analysis. Maybe you just have to be totally puerile to get on its wavelength. 

This is one of those films that has been deemed "offensive" in recent years, as changing mores don't allow you to poke fun at certain topics anymore. Yawn.

4 Alrighty Thens! out of 5

Happy Gilmore 2 (2025)

Nostalgia can be dangerous. An overreliance on the past can be a handicap. There's no reason for some things to be revived except for purely sentimental reasons. This wasn't one of them.

This film features many callbacks accompanied by old clips cribbed from the first movie to make you remember how much you enjoyed that one and desperately try to recreate those old feelings. Most of the time, it falls flat.

My other complaint is that comedies are too long nowadays. It's completely self-indulgent for this to be two hours. Clip it at 90 minutes and leave out all the fluff. It ages better that way. 

I sound like an old fuddy-duddy now. I didn't hate everything about it, I just wish it tried to do something different. For some people, same-old will be perfectly acceptable. It just feels sadder when these people are in their 50s.

1½ gratuitous cameos out of 5

Happy Gilmore (1996)

Demonstrating he has range, Sandler's next headlining role had him portraying a failed hockey player with anger issues who channels his rage into his golf game in order to save his grandmother's house from foreclosure. He sparks a rivalry with the villainous Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald), while learning the skills of the game from the one-armed Chubbs (Carl Weathers). The humor in this movie is all over the map, but there are enough memorable moments to cement this as a classic and one of The Sandman's defining roles.

3 fores out of 5