Una folle estate

I love this movie. Why you ask, it's because this movie has a very basic storyline: guy finds girl, guy disses girl, guy wins boat race so she can buy back her home, girl and guy find romance. Bobcat Goldwaith steals this show. Rare that I can say that, but his Godzilla impression really magnifies the wild humor to fantastic movie. Rent it now.

I cannot say enough good things about this movie. From the warped mind of Savage Steve Holland comes this superior laughfest. First, I have to say that I haven't seen many movies that start out with a David Lee Roth tune. This could be a good or bad thing. The main character is John Cusack's character, who calls himself Hoops. Which is a total oxymoron if you have seen his basketball skills in the movie. This movie is all about leaving your troubles behind and getting away for the summer to Nantucket. Hoops is afraid of boats, but has no choice when his friend George launches his clunker onto the ferry at the last minute. He shacks up with future love interest Demi Moore, the worst actress in history. But she is pretty young and 80's looking in this one. They finally hit mainland and meet a whole host of odd characters. Of these is Bobcat Golthwait and Dudley Dawson, from the Revenge of the Nerd flicks. Hoops is still practicing his drawing and falling head over heels for a debutante named Cookie. But Cookie has a muscle bound rich preppy ass boyfriend named Teddy. And he has it out for Hoops and co. As the plot thickens, Demi's character is about to lose her grandfathers house to the bank, so they decide to plan a benefit at a local dive. You can just imagine Demi lipsyncing. She ends up with plenty of money, but the bank has already sold the mortgage to the house. The movie comes to a happy ending via boat race on the lovely waters of Nantucket. Cusack and co. build a riff raff boat and blow everyone out of the water, despite some unfair play along the way. So they get the trophy, house, and Cusack ends up in a liplock with Demi. Despite the cheesey story, there are some really funny moments in this one. Some of my personal favorites are: the guy getting stabbed during the hat toss at graduation, Uncle Frank getting launched out of the bathroom window, and Bobcat getting stuck in a Godzilla costume. Also expect cameos from Rich Hall, Rich Little, and Taylor Negron. I rate this movie 4/5 for the great comic moments and the fact that I grew up watching this one. Very hard to find on dvd, and am not sure on bonus footage, but this is a comedy classic. But I think Better off Dead is equal or a little less funnier. Both have their moments. And this was way before Cusack ruined his career doing Pushing Tin.

ONE CRAZY SUMMER (1986) ** John Cusack, Demi Moore, Bobcat Goldthwait, Joel Murray, Tom Villard, Curtis Armstrong, Mark Metcalfe, Bill Hickey. Savage Steve Holland strikes again with Cusack as an aspiring cartoonist who has a wild and wacky summer vacation with nutty friends and adventures including their half-witted attempt to help rocker Moore save her family's estate from greedy land developers. More misses than hits yet Cusack is always fun to watch with his dead pan cool deliveries.

Thus starts "One Crazy Summer", the evil twin of "Better off dead..". How can any movie be bad when the opening lines are sung by David Lee Roth?

This movie is a total blast. Pairing again John Cusack with Curtis Armstrong, but this time adding Bobcat Goldwaith to the mix has great, funny results. Hyperactive Bobcat grates the nerve of everyone around, Curtis "Ak Ak" is the son of a deranged military with pacifist tendencies, and Demi Moore (with natural breasts... wow!) as the love interest of, once again, chronically depressed Cusack.

The story is, well, simple enough. The laughs are there, but both Savage Steve Holland films have a certain quality to them... they are funny, but they are also sweet. The scene where Curtis finds a blown up doll in the target practice beach, and begins musing about how a little girl won't be able to sleep was dumb, funny and touching. The animation used throughout is quite surreal. "The Boat" is hysterical (complete with Watsamatta U. sail and Odie plush doll). Overall, a fun film, though not as good as "Better off dead..."

In the eighties, Savage Steve Holland put out three movies, two of which are classics of what seems to be a very small genre, absurdist teen comedies. The third "How I Got Into College" does not measure up to "Better Off Dead" and this one, mainly because of it's lack of John Cusack and Curtis Armstrong (Except for a tiny cameo).

One Crazy Summer is an underrated movie, with lots of great characterizations and gags. As I recall, Savage Steve's movies were vilified as being brain dead at the time and after three movies he drifted into children's TV. We could use more movies from the likes of him.