Delirio

I have recently re-watched one of John Candy's more interesting films done around the subject of the soap opera. This film stars Candy as a producer of a Soap Opera that ends up being pulled into his own world where he has the opportunity (or misfortune) to interact with the characters that he created to love and hate.

This movie is pretty good. I felt that the entertainment value is fair and it is re-watchable. The cast interacts well and there are some very funny moments. I enjoy this film but unfortunately it falls in around the same basic feel that most comedies had at this time so don't expect the spectacular or a film that is gut wrenchingly funny. If you are looking for a film that is enjoyable and fairly pleasing this one has a good feel to it.

I can watch this movie over and over and never get tired (then again, I haven't ever tried watching it 10 times in a row in the same day)... Candy does his own sort of persona with his trademark charm without getting annoying, and the way the film turns constantly as he tries to solve his dilemma is great (particularly when he starts to write while drunk). Not a masterpiece by any standard, but a fun flick...

Just as I disagreed with the critics whom universally panned DELIRIOUS, I must disagree with most IMDB reviewers. I believe this is a genuinely funny movie, quite original and inspired. Sure, there are more than a few things in it that don't work (particularly the casting of Mariel Hemingway as the love interest); but, what writer hasn't a fantasy of being a part of his creation? The high point of the movie is the "guest" appearance by Robert Wagner. The big surprise is how funny Raymond Burr turns out to be. Despite her "spoiled brat" vixenishness, I would still take Emma Samms over the awkward, nerdy Miss Hemingway. The cruelist humor in the movie is the disintegration of Samm's brother. It's also probably the funniest thing about the film.

DELIRIOUS may not be to EVERYONE'S taste, but I happily purchased the laser disc a few years back. I watch it about once a year, and call it my "writer's fix". Enjoy it if you are a mind to...

That's John Candy's dilemma in Delirious. Candy's a writer for a popular television day time soap which seems to bear more resemblance to the night time big budget soaps so popular in the Eighties. Anyway after some creative differences with fellow writers Jerry Orbach and Renee Taylor, Candy gets into a nasty car wreck and when he wakes up finds himself in the hospital of his own show being treated by a couple of the characters of same, doctor David Rasche and nurse Andrea Thompson.

After seeing this, I see where the creators of Pleasantville got their idea. Pleasantville of course was a bit more serious in its subject matter. Delirious was a good idea that didn't quite come off although the players do give it a good try.

Part of the problem is that even in the fantasy Candy's thinking with his hormones. He's got it bad for his show's star Emma Sammes who is doing a nice Joan Collins impersonation. There's good girl Mariel Hemingway who is auditioning in real life for a part on Candy's soap opera and she shows up in the fantasy as well.

I have to give special kudos to Raymond Burr who plays the family patriarch of this soap opera with tongue firmly in cheek. Burr's occasionally flashes a twinkle which you have to be sure to catch just to let you know how much he's enjoying this. Nice he took time off from Perry Mason here.

Sammes and Burr are the real treats of Delirious. It could have been a lot funnier, but I think someone like Mel Brooks should have directed it.

I guess that "Delirious" was mostly one of John Candy's innocuously silly placeholders in between his really great roles, but it's still a fairly entertaining one. Maybe not rip-snorting hilarity - after "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", it's hard to imagine Candy in a funnier role - but an OK way to pass time. As a screenwriter who gets knocked out and wakes up a character in his own show, Candy makes the most of his role. Among the other cast members are Mariel Hemingway, Raymond Burr (in his final theatrical role), Jerry Orbach, Robert Wagner and Margot Kidder.

Oh, and if you think that you recognize "Hungarian Rhapsody #2", the classic Looney Tunes cartoons often used it: "Rhapsody in Rivets", "Rhapsody Rabbit", "Wise Quackers" and "What's Up, Doc?", to name a few. Later, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" had Daffy Duck and Donald Duck play it on pianos and undermine each other's performances.