Be the Man

source: Be the Man

Moviecut—Be the Man

Of course this is slapstick type comedy that is more meant for kids but for what it is this is perfect. Bob Einstein is great and there's lots of good physical gags that adults will find funny too, they're just so silly!

Debuting on The John Byner Comedy Hour, Super Dave Osbourne was really Bob Einstein, the brother of Albert Brooks. At one point - thankfully, right? - he got to spin the character into his own movie, which he wrote with Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton and Don Lake. It was directed by Peter MacDonald, who does a lot of second unit directing, but whose actual directing career is truly all over the place, with movies as different as Rambo III, Legionnaire, Mo' Money, The NeverEnding Story III: Return to Fantasia and reshoots on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Super Dave survives a near-fatal accident - that's every time he performs - and learns that he's broke. His boss has embezzled from him and he loses his home, causing him to retire and settle down with Sandy (Gia Carides) and her son Timmy (Carl Michael Lindner). He needs heart surgery, so Super Dave comes out of retirement to try to outstunt his enemy, Gil Ruston (Dan Hedaya). There's also Super Dave Jr. (Steve Van Wormer), a young stuntman who also turns on our hero. Luckily, Super Dave has assistant stunt coordinator Fuji Hakayito (Art Irizawa), and sportscaster Mike Walde on his side. This movie sat on the shelf for two years before going straight to video. I think that if you love Super Dave, well, this is for you. It's for me. And if you don't know who he is, well...either this is a good opportunity to learn. I read a review of this that said that this movie was made for one person and wondered why it was made. Well, as that one person, I'm glad to say it's in my collection.

Super Dave never had a movie because he's only funny in short doses and this movie proves that. There should have been more stunts and less talking. While it's not a laugh riot, it is a decent movie. Give it a chance.

I honestly rented this movie because I found out John Elway was in it for a short little moment. I tried to enjoy watching it, but found it hard to keep up with. Basically I found that the best part of the movie was the short line by John Elway. The beginning of the movie is a bit deceiving though. It starts out full blast and looks like a pretty exciting movie, but the excitement dies quickly thereafter.

I watched this film with a few kids and they really enjoyed the slapstick comedy of it all. The movie does start out with a blast but then seems to lose focus after the first 15 minutes. This really had some potential it just failed to seize the initiative. All in all though its not that bad of a film.

This unspectacular movie will mean little for those that never watched Super Dave's show from the 80's. Super Dave's show in the 80's was largely filmed in Toronto, my home town and it's always fun to be able to recognize scenes on the screen that you're been to or at least know about. This predictable movie reassembles the main cast from the show. It's nice to see them aging well and having a new gig. Seeing them altogether brings back memories of perhaps a better time that we can all personally associate with. Personal overtones make this movie special to the old Super Dave Fans for reasons other than its content. Give it a try....

I suppose the reason this film has such a low rating is that the Super Dave character is definitely a cult phenomenon. It helps to have seen the original short sketches on the old "Bizarre" comedy show with John Byner, and the later TV shows, because the film does depend somewhat on the audience having a sense of the history of the character. Originating as a satire on Evel Knieval, the character explored the same 'comedy of pain' terrain as Jim Carrey's 'Fireman Bob.' with the important difference that Carrey's character could be down right cruel and sick on occasions, while Super Dave proudly insists on being virtuous and good natured regardless of the disasters that confront him. But there's no doubt that what we are laughing at is, just how much pain can this character accidentally inflict on himself? Since this tells us more about ourselves than we wish to know, the producers of the film wrap it up in a story that certainly borders on the saccharine. But fortunately, the story isn't taken seriously at all. It's mere excuse to develop an alternative universe that is as absurd as the character of Super Dave himself - a necessity if the character is going to be allowed 90 minutes of comic pain without becoming obviously absurd himself. I've always found Super Dave hilarious, so I enjoyed the movie. The one real quibble I have for with it is the background music, which is excruciatingly banal. But if in comedy timing is everything, the film is superbly structured for what it is trying to accomplish - hence my own high rating for it.

source: Be the Man