Wahre Männer

This forgotten about film is a little guilty pleasure of mine. I have seen this movie many times in my life and have always enjoyed it. Seeing the rating on this website, perhaps I shouldn't apologize, because it seems others have enjoyed it as well.

It's a strange and kind of ridiculous movie that if you are able to throw logic out the window for laughs and a little bit of action you might enjoy. Jim Belushi plays super-CIA agent Nick Pirandello. He's like half James Bond and half MacGyver. He has been sent out to number one find the map to where the aliens are going to meet the humans to save the humanrace and number two find the right man for the job. That man is Bob Wilson played by John Ritter. He looks like the man who was originally set up to do the job. All the while making sure the map doesn't fall into the wrong hands. I know, I know it sounds quite silly and yes it is. But both Belushi and Ritter are very good in their roles and work quite well together. Another good thing is the film doesn't let up or give you two minutes to breathe which works best for a film like this one.

In a small role is James Le Gros who plays a local toughie Buddy McGruder who has stolen Bob's son's bike. A very interesting note to me as well is there are a couple scenes where Ritter is being faced with clowns that he may have to fight. 3 years later he starred in Stephen King's IT about a crazed clown named Pennywise.

The laughing gas, that is... I can only surmise that the writers who worked on this film, faced with a creativity crisis – you know, one of those dark moments of writer's block – must have solved the creativity problem by consuming a few deep hits of laughing gas, and this movie is what resulted. (Unlike Bill, they DID inhale.)

I've seen this movie several times over the years, and I somehow always find myself enjoying the comedy in it, though I find it (the comedy) really rather hard to define. It's not really a "Laugh-yer-butt-off" kind of slapstick humor, though there is a goodly amount of slapstick in it. It's not really a "Laugh-at-the-funny-lines" sort of humor, though again, both Ritter and Belushi do have some very funny lines in it.

I think it's one of those movies that you must approach much as you do, say, a Monty Python film: you need to be in "that frame of mind," you need to straight away drop some of your defenses and your preconceived notions of what constitutes "funny". Otherwise this movie will quickly leave you, thoroughly unamused, by the side of the road, as it continues along its merry, twisted path. By the time the clown scene comes, well, you will not find it funny at all. By then you would probably get more comedic value out of switching the TV channel to Bill O'Reilly or Neil Cavuto.

What makes Real Men work for me is the combination of the bizarre, almost Twilight Zone-like storyline, and the excellent chemistry between John Ritter and James Belushi. The story premise is SO implausibly dumb it just constantly makes me laugh as the movie unfolds. Combine that with the acting and antics of Ritter and Belushi, which are just spot-on smooth as silk, and the whole thing just makes for compelling watching. As mentioned, the two leads have good lines, but I think their body language and facial expressions say as much in this movie (perhaps more) than the spoken word.

So, drop some of your defensive shields, get in a suitably zany mood, and watch this movie. (REALLY watch it, looking at some of the physical humor, the quirks of facial expressions, listening for some of the double entendres, etc. Then you might love this movie, as I do.)

a movie like real men is for some people quite difficult to like. i suppose in that respect it falls in the same category as 'hudson hawk', another movie that is as much vilified by its opponents as it is praised by its fans. for me, real men was an utterly hilarious experience.

when i saw the movie, i never heard of it, and was therefore without any expectations about plot, people playing in it or general need for suspension of disbelief. this is perhaps the best way to view any movie, yet also harder and harder to achieve in this day and age of mass communication. i guess that it came upon me pretty quickly that nobody in this movie took themselves seriously, and even better, played their parts over the top and had so many completely unbelievable situations happening to them that i couldn't help but be entertained. in fact, i have this movie in my private video collection, and even show it from time to time to small groups of friends who invariably can't help but laugh their lungs empty. yes, this movie might not have eminently quotable lines, a brilliant script or a beeline to the oscars for best comedy, or even the most inspiring actors, but i've seen a lot of movies that label themselves comedies yet fail miserably where this movie succeeds brilliantly; it ends with me having a huge smile on my face. not only that, but any movie which has a clown squad of elite killers should be applauded for it's complete disregard of normal and sane everyday logic. if you can enjoy a good laugh and don't have too high standards of what should and should not happen in movies, this is definitely one to brighten up your afternoon.

I really like this film. It has a simple charm to it that wins you over. I remember the night I watched it - pouring rain like crazy, feeling bummed, and then this came on tv. It picked me right up, out of my low spirits, and what would have been a boring evening at home turned into some real laughs. I haven't forgotten that, and I won't forget "real men". It's really a sweet, funny film.

Why lie? It's a movie of nonsense. It's John Ritter and John Belushi at their funniest by being themselves. From the music do Belushi'a humor to the silliness of Ritter it's a smack out of the park home. Why not a 10/10? Ehhhh that would be a perfect movie, but for what it is, 8 for sure. There's so many times to LAUGH YOUR ASS OFF from the clown scene to where Ritter thinks he's shooting them with a finger gun, to the scene with Belushi's family. Oh, it's a rare movie you can actually watch in full on YouTube too. But from seeing this as a boy on ch11 WPIX on weekend afternoons to loving it growing up, it's timeless silliness. Let's be honest, it's not Emmy quality, but they weren't trying for it, and it's just a fun flick that makes you laugh in nearly every scene and that alone makes you truly appreciate it.