Quella pazza famiglia Fikus

Unreleased at first in the cinema in Australia, this absolutley demented farce sat on the shelf until after Arkin's original THE IN LAWS came out and was a hit here. Then Fox decided to give it a run and it was lukewarm. Pity, as a raucous Jewish comedy is is a pretty good one and anyone into anarchy as comedy (Big Store, Duck Soup, Where's Poppa, etc) will enjoy the screaming antics of a very fractured extended family. I think it ended up on a double bill with maybe Mel Brooks' THE PRODUCERS or something like that which matched the mugging and screaming. At my holiday resort cinema in that period we would show it on student nights and get a good reaction. Kids and old Jews loved it though.

This movie was definitely overlooked as a classic. Strange, yes; bizzare, oh yes! but funny if you have a strange sense of humor. Monty Python and Benny Hill fans may like the strange and off-beat humor of this movie, other humor fans may be wondering what this is about. The secret is that what you see is what you get: what you see on the screen is what this movie is about. This is a disfunctional family before the term became fashionable. I loved the characters' goofiness, and the way that the actors portrayed them. Alan Arkin, Vincent Gardenia, and Rob Reiner were the "stars" of this movie, but they wouldn't have gone anywhere without the supporting cast of characters. Uncle Sherman, Marian, Ruthie,and of course, Captain F#@k, rounded out the chaacters. Not getting into the plot of the movie (which there was none, really) : there was no stoy plot or character arc - it was just fun and goofy comedy. I just wish it was offered on VHS or DVD!

From the second the movie starts in the dark w/ the (noise) of a blowdryer, warming up the cold toilet seat, till the very end I loved this movie. I'm sorry that I've never seen it on TV or in the video stores. The comedy just kept on coming and coming. Here it is 1999 and I seen it in 1977, it's my favorite comedy of all times. I only wish that I could share it with my family now.

Like many of the previous reviewers, I only ever saw this movie once, and that was a long, long time ago (again like them). But even though I was only a teenager, where for me the world of the US East Coast Jews may as well have been on another planet, what gags I did understand (and I realized that there were many, many gags that I didn't!) were exceptionally funny. Leonard_M - loosen up a little. The movie IS funny.

Everyone to his own taste. Leonard Maltin is a wonderful critic, but this time I disagree with him. A friend of mine showed me a tape he made of this movie in 1979. I could not stop laughing. Sometimes a movie doesn't have to have a message when it's being funny (Ace Ventura, as a case in point). The stars of this movie are comedy giants, but the supporting cast is just as funny. Richard Libertini steals the movie as a house painter cum psychiatrist. Alex Rocco as a clothing salesman is hilarious. I have an old VHS tape of this movie that I made off HBO. I would love to see this movie released on DVD. If there is any good reason why this movie is not being released I'd like to hear it. I've showed the tape to my kids, and they went crazy for it. I think the time has come to let the world enjoy this laugh riot. I'm surprised that cable hasn't shown it either instead of the same tired retreads over and over. Let's hear it for comedy that isn't pretty.