Doctor Detroit

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source: Doctor Detroit

This movie can be described only as silly. When a "bad guy" is pressured by "momma" he invents a fictional character, haistily named Doctor Detriot. When momma asks to meet him he sets up Dan Ackroyd, the unlikely wimp, builds his confidence, give him some make-up and volla! He kicks some butt. This movie has few laughs and isn't one of Dan Ackroyd's best. Neighbours, The Blues Brothers and even Ghostbusters are good so see them in preference to this.

DOCTOR DETROIT (1983) **1/2 Dan Aykroyd, Howard Hesseman, Donna Dixon, Fran Drescher, TK Carter, George Furth, James Brown. Aykroyd has a field day as milquetoast college professor who unwittingly is enlisted by a pimp to assume the identity of a ganglord mack daddy as the eponymous not-to-be-trifled man about town. Frequently funny especially his tete a tete with his archenemy, Mom, in a junk yard: `Mom, I'm gonna rip off your head and s**t down your neck!' Brown's appearance livens things up with a neat, goofy dance spotlight for the antic Aykroyd

Dan Ackroyd in his prime essays the role of DOCTOR DETROIT, a comic superpimp. In his regular life, Doctor Detroit is a meek college professor right out of a Golden Era slapstick comedy like Cary Grant in "Bringing Up Baby" or Gary Cooper in "Ball of Fire" or even Danny Kaye in the remake, "A Song Is Born." Why and how the professor turns into this larger-than-life, scratchy-voiced pimp is what the movie is all about. And in the end, the Doctor must face down Mom, a notorious gangster. Problem with the movie is Ackroyd was not scheduled to play the role. If memory serves, it was John Belushi, who had died rather suddenly. So Ackroyd steps in to save the day, except he simply isn't funny as the Doctor. He is fine as the professor, however. Ackroyd's soon-to-be, real-life wife Donna Dixon is his love interest.

I think this is one of the most under-appreciated comedies of the 80's. Behind the light comedy in the foreground of this flick is a ton of tongue-in-cheek jokes that, frankly, I just didn't get when I was 14. For example, Akroyd, in the middle of his bizarre adventure, calls the limo driver "Sancho" in one scene. If you find that funny (which would require getting the reference) lines like that pepper the movie. It's really a fun show. I'm sorry I went 20 years without seeing it again. It doesn't stand up budget-wise to his big movies, but if you come to it without any particular expectations, I think you'll be quite pleasantly surprised.

Take a bit of Don Quixote, Trading Places, Risky Business and The Nutty Professor. Throw in Dan Ackroyd, Howard Hesseman and Fran Drescher. And you have Dr Detroit. A film that I think was most likely never released outside of the USA. Which is a shame as it has a good plot, good characters and good set pieces that drive the film well. Combine some excellent 80's music, throw in pimps and James Brown for good measure and you have one of Dan's best films and this does not deserve to be as unknown as is it. It has all the ingredients for a cult classic and really does deserve DVD release worldwide. Dan plays a mild mannered college Professor who is chosen by Hesseman as his made-up partner Dr Detroit. Hesseman owes money to Mom, a big-time hood in his local city and has no intention of paying. So he creates Dr Detroit, his business partner who will pay Mom and skips town. Leaving Dan to create Dr Detroit and look after the hookers and either pay off Mom or run her out of town. This doesn't look dated for an 80's movie, it's well shot and was pretty funny. I highly recommend you watch it.

The best thing that can be said about Doctor Detroit is that it has a very fun cast that try their hardest to work off each other and make the most of what is an otherwise appallingly unfunny piece of campy schlock. Most of the blame should probably go to director Pressman who doesn't even bother staging a joke throughout the whole movie.

Okay, the characters are lively and likable, but the story is cartoon-like, so simplified that it is totally forgettable. One positive is the sharp editing, that keeps things moving along. Negatives would be the lack of enough laughs to recommend second viewings, and cartoon-like goings on that are seriously squirm inducing. "Doctor Detroit" comes across as a not fully developed "Saturday Night Live" skit. While the characters are certainly colorful, there is no real bite to the story. Fran Drescher and Howard Hessman try their stereotyped best, while Dan Aykroyd cavorts about trying to hold things together, but to no avail. Stick with "Trading Places" and avoid the comedic letdown of "Doctor Detroit". - MERK

As others may have pointed out, this is mostly Dan A. doing his schtick with a couple of characters that he had not entirely fleshed out. But one thing you should see (hear) this movie for is the sound track! You have Devo, James Brown, and Lalo Schifrin (in probably his only excursion into "soul music"--and what an excursion it is). Almost 20 years later, I still listen to this album on a regular basis.