Le palace en folie

I was 14 years old when "Bachelor Party" was released...therefore I was too young to see it in a theatre as it was rated "R," and of course Mom and Dad weren't going to take me to see such a film. About a year after that it happened to come on HBO one night while my parents were out for the evening, so I excitedly sat down to watch this forbidden fruit. I laughed my ass off for the entire movie, of course, and the experience was heightened by the knowledge that if Mom and Dad came home before the movie was over and caught me watching it, they would've kicked my butt. Fortunately the film ended before they returned, so I got away with my little indiscretion. That's my main "Bachelor Party" memory and why the film remains so special to me all these years later.

Seeing it again after a quarter of a century (! has it been that long?) I was confronted with a blast of nostalgia. "Bachelor Party" is now a true time capsule of the '80s and as soon as it started I was transported back to my junior high days. Hard to believe that Tom Hanks -- yes, THE Tom Hanks -- got his start in goofball comedies like this, "Volunteers" and the sit-com "Bosom Buddies" before becoming an award winning serious actor. Hanks is likable in just about anything, and "Bachelor Party" is no exception. His character, a goofy slacker named Rick who drives a school bus for a living, has somehow lucked into marrying the gorgeous Tawny Kitaen (who would become famous a few years later for her turn in several Whitesnake videos, then infamous after that for her drug and alcohol fueled activities), to the horror of her rich parents. Rick's party-animal friends (including Adrian Zmed of "Grease 2" and "T.J. Hooker" fame) want to send Rick off into married life with the bachelor bash to end all bashes, and so the characters descend on an upscale hotel suite with all the class of a horde of Vikings on the attack. The party has all the sleazy trimmings you'd expect (drugs, hookers, booze, porn, strippers, etc.) plus a few hilarious asides such as a pimp who "looks like Gandhi" and a well endowed male stripper who goes by the stage name "Nick the Dick." Rick's fiancé, afraid that he will be unfaithful to him during said party, decides to crash the proceedings with her friends, leading to predictable '80s raunch-comedy chaos. (A naked guy hung out of the hotel window! A Marilyn Monroe lookalike stripper who turns out to be a guy in drag! A cocaine-snorting donkey that dies of an OD!) I laughed just as hard as I did when I was a teenybopper! This movie still holds up as one of the best low brow comedies of the 80s, if not of all time. Rent this one and give your inner 14 year old the time of his life!

I first saw this movie as a kid, and being a juvenile at the time, I of course loved the juvenile humor (not to mention the nudity). But humor is one of those things that rarely ages well, and I fully expected all these years later to find that the movie was rather, well, juvenile. Very pleasantly surprised to find that it really was still funny, even if Hanks himself is so over the top that it makes the central storyline (Tawny Kitaen wants to marry him) unbelievable. Its silly, low brow, and yet exuberant and consistently funny throughout. One of those movies where everybody is having such a good time that its hard not to yourself, and the jokes are fearlessly tasteless. Not a classic, but still fun nearly 30 years later (has it been nearly 30 years? wow!).

Bachelor Party has few redeeming features, but it does have one big one: it's funny. Tom Hanks is about to get married, and his friends throw him one big bachelor party. Naked women, large amounts of drinking and a donkey getting high all follow.

Of course, someone wants to ruin the fun, in the form of Hank's bride-to-be father. Naturally, all of his plans to ruin the party are foiled by the motley crew.

Most of the gags in Bachelor Party are tasteless, but that's half of the fun. Not really recommended to devout Christians, but those with open minds will either find this film infectiously silly, or just stupid. It's a nice reminder of what film makers could get away with in the 80's, though. American Pie, it's nearest competitor, is too glossy and slick to be a proper Hollywood soft porn flick. It also has too much of a heart. Bachelor Party just piles on the dirtiness, and throws in a moral at the end, which is the way all 'Porky's' copies should be made (although Party is more fun than Porkys.)

(Comedy, 1984)

Rick Gassko (Tom Hanks) is a cool personable school bus driver soon to be married to Debbie Thompson (Tawny Kitaen). His friends Jay O'Neill (Adrian Zmed), mechanic Rudy (Barry Diamond), nerdy Gary (Gary Grossman), and waiter Ryko (Michael Dudikoff) throw him an outrageous bachelor party. Her old boyfriend Cole Whittier (Robert Prescott) aims to break them up. Her parents don't like him either. His brother Stan (William Tepper) is coming along eager to get away from his wife Tina (Wendie Jo Sperber). They invite drugged up Brad Peckerhead Mollen.

This is a simple Tom Hanks vehicle. The problem is that he doesn't have good enough partners to play with. Tawny Kitaen is a reasonable hot good girl. There are some fun scenes. Hanks hitting tennis balls over the fence. The male stripper with the fake hot dog is hilarious. The party getting out of control is fun. The Oingo Boingo song is catchy. These are good individual scenes. There needs to be more of them. It should get to the group bachelor party sooner. At least, the group has some limited comedy bromance chemistry. Adrian Zmed is not good enough to be the best friend. Gary Grossman is good as the funny nerd. The rest of them are acceptable as the boorish friends. Robert Prescott is great as the douche ex. As far as 80s raunchy comedies go, this one isn't too bad.

First of all, if you are thinking that this will be some wonderful, well thought out, well crafted artwork starring Tom Hanks, put the movie down and back away from the rack. Now flash back to 1984, when movies were inane and entertaining--solely for entertaining!!! As far as raunchy 80's humor goes, you won't find anything better that Bachelor Party. Yes, the humor is predictable. Yes, the sight gags are predictable. But this movie does it better than anyone else in it's genre (that would be raunchy comedy). Good girl falls for bad boy, plan to get married, but first the guys must be guys. "Let's have a party with liquor and drugs and guns and hookers and cops!" and they do. Don't ask for more than this movie can deliver, yet appreciate it for what it is!