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Going Overboard (1989)
We use this film to test the resolve of our staff
Shecky, is a god damned legend, make no mistake. Until recently I worked for a UK HiFi & Video retail chain, running their testing department. We would go through many new starters, they would be expected to to learn how to fault find the various detritus that returns as non functional in one way or another from the stores. Now to tortu^^^^^ test the resolve of these new staff members, we would issue them with a copy of Going Overboard. We had hundreds of copies of this film because whenever someone who had bought a particular model of Goodmans DVD player that had this film as a free gift, got round to sending their DVD player back, they never failed to send Shecky back also. Our new staff would be forced to use only Going Overboard to test these machines for faults until they had found a disc or two of their own to test with.
Now, as to why this film is so bad, where do I begin?
Adam Sandler, who can be so, so very funny, as in Happy Gilmore, or the Wedding Singer, must have been having one hell of an off day. The rest of the crew stank, and what is it with Billy Zane? His name crops up in several of the worst movies of all time, and he is a decent actor. Crazy. The production quality is absolute zero.
I would have been inclined to give this a zero if I could, because they didn't even have the guts to call it by it's full name 'The Unsinkable Shecky Moskowitz' on release. Even so it is worth a watch so you can see just how far Sandler has come, and just how low he can go.
On Deadly Ground (1994)
Blatant self worship at it's very worst
Once upon a time, I thought Segal was a promising actor, having seen Under Siege, (more recent re-viewings have shown me that in fact Tommy Lee Jones was the heart and soul of that movie.) I actually paid for myself and my Girlfriend (now wife) to watch this film.
Segal, as director, actor, general script revisionist and mentor to the crew, puts together an appalling mix of patronism and blatant self worship at it's very worst, throughout the entire film.
The bar scene, and don't ask which, you will know when you see it, is a microcosm of the film itself, with traditional western style cardboard villans given a good thrashing by mighty Steve and his pot belly, then treated to the musings of his less than awesome mind.
Michael Caine, hams it up mercilessly as the evil bad guy, and McGinley and Ermey are actually quite good if hamstrung by pathetically poor dialogue and a character arc which can at best be described as a straightjacket.
The plot, and yes there is one, is that "Forrest Taft" a wonderful chap who wants to make money in an ethical way has been working for the evil Caine, but is beginning to question his ethics, he then embarks upon a forced journey of self discovery (via the local Innuit community) and begins a crusade against the greed and materialism represented by the Oil company, which involves not only the destruction of the oil plant but the death of all it's workers, though to take a Kevin Smith 'Death Star contractors' point of view, they knew exactly who they were working for and therefore knew the risks, and in all likelihood hopelessly polluting the entire area.
Along the way bad guys are humiliated by Segal's 'intellect' as well as his fists, naked indians dance around in his dreams and Michael Caine gets progressively louder nastier and in the end is simply a caricature of all that is bad about Corporate America today.
One thing I noticed from the TV replay is that the monotribe at the end lasted barely 3 minutes, when watching this monstrosity at the cinema it seemed to last a *lot* longer.
After seeing this film I actually doubted my sanity, had I really thought Under Siege was a good film, was it a good film? In truth it's not bad at all and shows what Segal can do when directed properly, with a cast of properly directed supporting villains.
On Deadly Ground however ranks alongside films like Mission to Mars and Dungeons and Dragons as films which ought never to have been released, and in all cases contain some excellent actors struggling with disgracefully poor scripts and disgustingly bad direction. I am not sure why TV stations persist in re-airing this hapless movie but if you get a chance it is worth watching, if only to put in perspective just how good, really good movies are, and what a combination of poor direction and worthless scripts can result in.