Happy Hour

My review was written in May 1987 after a screening at Manhattans' UA Twin theater.

The filmmakers of the intentionally bad 1977 release "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" have not progressed one iota in a decade, judging by the singularly unfunny "Happy Hour", a purported comedy about beer. Poor writing and inept technique will have the viewer claiming "Sour Grapes", pic's original title when shot back in 1985.

Richard Gilliland blandly portrays a scientist working for Marshall eer who accidentally invents an ingredient which makes the product irresistible and addictive. Unfortunately, he cannot reproduce his formula, so only one bottle of the stuff exists, half of which is stolen by rival Lakeside Beer.

Picture consists of poorly staged and ill-timed slapstick as a bunch of zanies try to capture both breweries' vials of the ingredient. Charmles overacting is encouraged by director John De Bello, except for the casting of mimic Rich Little as a James Bond type of suave spy, given a very laid back, boring reading by Little. Film is so dated that Little has a running gag vocally doing an impression of Cary Grant to fool security guards.

Despite its R rating, pic has no nudity or sex. Technical quality is disgraceful, with poorly synched dialog (done intentionally as a gag in "Killer Tomatoes" but just a boner here), and no color correcting. Latter caused most of the print screened to be very reddish, virtually making lovely costgar Tawny Kitaen look as garish as a circus clown; some shots are greenish with no matching. The only pro credit is an effective music score. Pic ends with a bimbette addressing the audience directly, informing us we probably are too stupid to understand the film's message. Supposedly a satire of society's crassness as epitomized in beer advertising, the film's shoddy attempt to make a fast buck is transparently clear to any movie fan.

If you can sit through this entire movie you either have no life or no remote. I did, but very regettably so. It is a movie where afterward you think, I wasted an hour and a half of my life, ON THAT!! While the acting was horrible, the attempts at humor were even worse. There were a few humorous parts, but even those are tasteless and might repulse some. To tell you how poor this movie is the high point is... well there is no high point it was all equally pathetic.

An awfully silly little comedy with only half-baked satirical elements, the film is however energetically acted, especially by Jamie Farr and Rich Little, and what those two actors alone can do makes the film worth checking out. The director, John De Bello, is best known for 'Attacking of the Killer Tomatoes', and while this film did not gain the same cult status, it possibly is better. The music soundtrack is great, and some of the satirical aspects do work: the secret ingredient is sort of like Coca Cola's secret ingredient, and the market competition does reflect the consumer orientated society of today - but if only it were not full of silly gags and characters that do the film no good. Richard Gilliland is also not the most convincing choice for his leading part, but Farr and Little do spice up the acting side.

This movie begins with two chemists named "Blakely Teegarden" (Richard Gilliland) and "Meredith Casey" (Deborah Gates) who accidentally create a chemical concoction which cannot be duplicated but makes whatever food source is available highly addictive. Upon hearing this their CEO, "Jack Marshall" (Jim Newell) decides to add this substance to a certain brand of beer made in a brewery he owns. When the sales skyrocket he promotes Blakely-but not Meredith. Not long afterward a rival beer company manages to get their hands on one of only two vials of this substance as well. Because both companies want to be #1 in beer sales they each hire corporate spies to try to steal the other companies container of this substance. What follows is a film with several good-looking females--most notably Debi Fares (as "Ms. Shepard"), Kathi Diamant ("Cathy Teegarden") and Tawny Kitaen ("Misty Roberts")--who managed to keep my interest for the most part. Unfortunately, the plot meandered all over the place and for a comedy the humor was noticeably absent. That said, I have rated this movie accordingly. Below average.

Marshall Industries of Denver makes the country's no. 1 beer. In fact, in this movie, beer is VERY popular. Most people seem to be drunk a lot of the time, and even 6-year-olds can drink. But Blake, despite being a Marshall employee, wants nothing to do with the beer outside the workplace. He doesn't want his children drinking either.

One day a mystery man shows up at Marshall looking for work. He is willing to do anything. I'm not exactly sure what he was trying to accomplish. He has one scene with Blake where he claims to be a Mormon. Later he has gotten access to the Marshall brewery by claiming to be Cary Grant. As far as I can tell, this is the one time Rich Little uses the skill for which he is best known. Other than that, his abilities weren't used to their potential. He is an okay actor, though.

As a M*A*S*H fan, I liked Jamie Farr the best. He too had a secret agenda of some kind which involved sneaking into the brewery of Marshall's leading competitor. Along the way, he had numerous mishaps. Farr's performance wasn't quite on the level of Corporal Klinger, but he didn't seem to have that much to work with. The other actors had the goofier lines and Farr seemed to play more straight when he spoke, instead ending up a victim of physical comedy.

I do know that there was some secret ingredient that everyone wanted their hands on. Supposedly, this ingredient would make the other beer number one.

I'm not sure what to think of this movie overall. At times it was a hilarious satire. But bad acting in a conventional movie doesn't look too different from good acting in a spoof. I'll give the people who made the movie the benefit of the doubt and say they made a good, but not great, satire. The situations were so silly that this movie was still entertaining, even if I didn't know exactly what was going on. Adding a lot to the movie: the physical comedy and elaborate plans for getting into ... wherever.

The ending was enjoyable in a goofy way. It was one of those cases where the characters knew they were in a movie.