Real Men

This was one of those movies that was silly enough to expect anything, but just normal enough to be unsure of what to expect.

Bob Wilson (John Ritter) is a perfectly normal guy. He has the fortune (or misfortune) of looking exactly like agent Pillbox who was killed. Agent Pillbox was in charge of making a critical exchange with some aliens (yes, I said some aliens). Being that the aliens would only accept Pillbox for their exchange the CIA hustled Bob into being the guy. Agent Nick Pirandello (James Belushi) was the special agent in charge of acquiring and protecting Bob as they made a cross country journey to Washington D.C. to make the all important trade.

The movie is funny at times, dull at other times, and you can't ignore the fact that the plot is on the bizarre side. Could I be spending my time doing something better? Yes. Was this movie entertaining enough to fill 90 minutes of empty time? Yes.

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.

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.

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.)

Very funny from beginning to end! I watch this movie over and over and enjoy it more every time. It's great to see the friendship and bonding develop between Belushi and Ritter as the movie progresses. And just when you think they have finally bonded, Ritter will make a run for it. and Belushi will convince him to stay. Some of the best scenes are when Ritter finally realizes his purpose, and the skills he has learned, and puts them to work, and when he finally realizes his mission and takes it seriously.

This movie is not only funny but also filled with lots of action.

Watch for the scenes with Belushi's "dad" and when Ritter clobbers the milkman.