As Aventuras de Ford Fairlane

The Adventures of Ford Fairlane looks pretty much at the Diceman at his stand-up comedy best. But, this time, he has a character and is a rock and roll detective. As usual he is the offensive Dice. Off-color, crude, and for me (a rabid Dice fan) utterly dead pan funny. But though I find Andrew Dice Clay to be a good actor, many people might see this movie and think that he is just using this film as an excuse for people to see his stand-up act. Well, like the film, the opinions are two sided. You either love the Diceman's comedy, or utterly hate it. I'm going for the upper. Great comedy and entertainment in this block-buster that rocketed Dice.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people, who fancy themselves critics, meander off into the political and try to use theatrical jargon to disguise what it is they really dislike about a movie. If you go to a movie which is a vehicle for Andrew Dice Clay who in my estimation is one of the greatest comic minds in history, (and he has the records to prove it, being the only comedian to sell out Madison Square Gardens 2 nights consecutively) how can his brand of humor be used as legitimate criticism in a movie which promotes his brand of comedy to the hilt? It's moronic, if you don't like his shtick, you won't like the movie..end of story. Why did you go see it? and why do you write sprawling reviews ...when you could sum it up in a sentence. I hate Dice's humor so naturally I hated this movie. That much said this movie was "The goods" and would have been one of the top 20 box office earners of 1990 had 20th century fox not caved to political pressure and yanked it after only 3 weeks. 12 million opening week? flop me thinks not. The cinemephotography is some of the best work since michael chapman's work in the Lost Boys. The cast are all wonderful in their cartoon roles, With Dice in the lead and Wayne Newton as the villain steeling the show. The movie is hilarious. But to prove that I am not completely biased as a dice fan, there where some minor elelments that bugged me. The editing towards the middle of the movie seemed to get sloppy, especially during the scenens in which biker hit men descend upon the sorority house. And there is a scene in which ford fairlane is being inducted as an honorary member, this is silly and does not jel with his macho stick. Also Morris Dey in a supporting role, gave a dreadful performance, which is sad because he can act, as anyone who has seen Purple Rain knows. Aside from these minor annoyances, the adventures of ford fairlane delivers all it promised, and should have become a franchise film, had 20th century fox maintained more artistic integrity in the face of controversy, not to mention business savvy as it was still making money when they pulled it despite al the undserved negative publicity. One of the best comedies of the 90s.

Andrew Dice Clay, now THERE was a man who was ahead of his time, If he came a decade or two later he would have been heralded as the acting equivalent of say, Eminem.. You know except with talent. OOOOH! Hey is this thing on?? Anyways this movie is greatness & one of my "guilty pleasures". So many quotable lines. So many great cameos. I heard Roger Ebert HATED this movie..yeah Ebert, I F#%^ed him OOOOH!! Seriously go see this movie... NOW, snapperhead.

My Grade: B+

DVD Extras: featurette; Billy Idol music video; theatrical trailer

Was this going to win Best Picture? Hell no.

But "Adventures of Ford Fairlane" is the movie you watch when you're about to go to sleep because you have a big meeting in the morning and then you see the opening credits on HBO at 11:30pm and you just have to watch it.

Movies like this, as self-serving and gross as they are, actually are more important today more than they were when they came out in the 80s and 90s. They are a reminder of a time when we could laugh at something that was gross and disgusting without having to worry about protests from leftist screaming about micro aggressions. No one names their penis "Stanley" anymore. No one is banned from MTV. No one says nursery rhymes with the word pu$$y in them.

No one knew it at the time, but AFF is an important snapshot of a better time in pop culture.

Ford Fairlane (Andrew Dice Clay) is known as the Rock n' Roll Detective. He's a hard-smoking, womanizing, Hollywood private eye who is well connected in the music scene. Jazz (Lauren Holly) is his loyal assistant. Everybody pays him in gifts. Lead singer Bobby Black and his band is supposed to be the new sensation. He ODs on stage during a performance. His school friend obnoxious shock-jock Johnny Crunch hires him to find his daughter-sister-daughter Zuzu Petals. Crunch is quickly killed. Investigating cop Lt. Amos (Ed O'Neill) has an old grudge against him. The Kid hires him to find his dad. Colleen Sutton hires him to find her sister Zuzu Petals. Zuzu turns out to be a groupie to Bobby Black. There's a crazed hit-man (Robert Englund) and record executive Julian Grendel (Wayne Newton).

It's crass, it's loud, and it's irreverent. I can certainly see many being offended by Andrew Dice Clay's crude character. For me, it's funny. It's basically an alternate world where Andrew Dice Clay's alter-ego exists. He's actually funnier when he's being a little stupid. There're some fun back-and-forth with Zuzu. For people not easily offended, this is good crass irreverent fun.