Slapstick (Of Another Kind)

Vonnegut novels have proven time and again very difficult to translate to film. For whatever reason, the subtlety and humanity of the novels get lost or scrambled in the interpretation. And this is probably the most glaring example.

Missing most of the point of the book and pulling focus from any reflection on loneliness or the absurdity of modern life and putting that energy into seeing Jerry Lewis interact with a poorly SFX overlay fortune-cookie-shaped UFOs. Which is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the high key racism in the film.

An arguably stellar cast gets mostly wasted on a joyless slog through a story that feels only tenuously adjacent to the source material.

I was too young when it came out to notice, but it's hard to imagine this seeing some release in the same year that Ghostbusters came out. It feels like it was made in a different decade, in a different dimension. I feel like this film and Heartbeeps bring similar grim energies. Both films I find interesting in their approach. Both intended to be comedies with heartfelt messages at the core, and both of them leaving you with a forlorn emptiness. If you absolutely love the book, maybe don't seek this out. If you want to see a big weird mess, then go for it.

"Slapstick of Another Kind" is a surprise to watch. After all, I've never seen it included on a list of the worst movies ever made...but clearly it deserves to be there. Obviously SOMEONE thought the film was god-awful, as the studio shelved it for two years before ultimately releasing it! This is because this film is super- bizarre, totally unfunny and an awful chore to watch. Rarely have I ever seen anything THIS tedious and awful!! And, as far as entertainment goes, I think it's preferable to stare at vomit for 90 minutes than watch this movie.

When the film begins, there is a really crappy outer space scene where disembodied beings talk about sending twins to the United States to help them out. Apparently, they sent two to China but with poor results. As for the Chinese, they are all just a few inches high and fly about in UFOs!

When the children are born to their rich and sophisticated parents, they are hideous and the doctor (Frankenstein...ha, ha?!) advises the parents to abandon them to his care. And for 15 years, they are pretty much left on their own while the servants just party. During this time, on their own, they learn a billion and one things and are very bright--but they look and act really stupid much of the time. In fact, it's insultingly awful, as the film appears to make fun of the intellectually challenged.

Later, the President of the United States arrives in Air Force One (powered by chicken crap) because the Chinese tell everyone the twins are 'America's greatest resource'...and things don't go very well during the visit. What happens next? Who cares....but see this film if you must!

Not one bit of this film is the least bit funny or worthy of your attention. It's loud, boorish and annoying from start to finish. A god-awful mess of a film that NEVER should have been released and marks one of the lowest points in cinematic history. While almost no one has seen Jerry Lewis' "The Day the Clown Cried" (as he refuses to allow it to be released because, presumably, it's THAT bad), it cannot be as awful as this film he and Madeline Kahn made- -presumably because someone was holding them captive or threatening to shoot their families.

Air Force One, apparently, isn't the only thing running on chicken crap!

I understand the book this is "adapted" from was not great by any means, but I don't think a book could possibly be this bad.

The description for the movie does no justice in describing this atrocity. Twins are birthed from the loins of two "beautiful" people, only they look like Sasquatch sized creatures from another world (oops, spoilers! Oh wait no one will care). They apparently seem smart together but the film gives us little insight into that. On one hand, we do get tons and tons of bad vignettes of people well past their prime trying to be funny. Jerry Lewis seemingly shaped this after Blazing Saddles, but took out any social commentary, acting prowess and humor.

The worst part is all of the actors look like they are being confronted by existential dread. They probably saw the dailies and were horrified. Apparently the weirdo that made this film also made Baby Geniuses. No wonder it was so terrible. There is a morbid curiosity of seeing a train wreck like this, but most people have better things to do with their lives.

I had to see this movie because I had no choice. I was taking a trip in a bus and they put this movie on the bus's TV. I never get asleep on a bus specially when there's a movie playing but in this case I better tried to sleep because I couldn't stand watching this movie. The worst movie I've ever seen. I got headache and felt dizzy when it finished.

Slapstick of Another Kind (1982)

1/2 (out of 4)

Jerry Lewis and Madeline Kahn play a married couple who give birth to a twin boy and girl (also played by Lewis and Kahn). Sadly for the parents, these two kids are really ugly, stupid and deformed. It turns out that an alien took control of the pregnancy to try and force these two kids to teach the world something because when the twins but their heads together they become super smart.

Wow, what a complete and utter misfire this thing turned out to be. It's rather shocking to see how awful SLAPSTICK OF ANOTHER KIND is and it's even more shocking to see Lewis on The Tonight Show in 1984 trying to sell the movie. It's easy to see why they didn't spend too much time on that show discussing this movie because it's quite awful and even Lewis didn't do a very good job at selling it. The film was released in Europe two years before it's American debut but I doubt even this thing could fool fans over there.

There are all sorts of problems with this movie including the fact that it just looks downright cheap and poorly produced. I really don't know what they were going for or what they were trying to do but the screenplay is just one giant mess. I mean, there are some below-the-belt jokes that I personally didn't find offensive but it's funny to think that anyone would have read them on the script and thought that they would have worked. What's even worse is the fact that I only laughed twice throughout the running time.

How does a movie with Lewis, Kahn, Marty Feldman, John Abbott, Samuel Fuller, Pat Morita and Merv Griffin go so terribly wrong? It certainly proves that no matter how great a cast you get if the screenplay is bad your movie is going to turn out the same way. Both Lewis and Kahn get an A for effort but there's just nothing here for their talents. Feldman is completely wasted in his role but I will say that Abbott gets a couple decent moments as Dr. Frankenstein as does Fuller as Colonel Sharp.

SLAPSTICK OF ANOTHER KIND tries to mix comedy and sci-fi but it's really an awful picture from start to finish.