Die Laughing

I have viewed this movie twice. That does not make me an expert but honestly, Elvis made family type movies in his day, so why not Robby Benson ?? This is as good a movie as any of the Elvis movies, if not better !! There is just something magical about Robby Benson. I have read negative reviews about his acting in this movie and like what ?? So happy am I that a movie has caught Benson's cute gestures and big smile, perfect, just perfect. Don't discount Mr. Benson in any way or well, you yourself go try and make an epic movie !! Die Laughing is a good clean funny film with pretty good acting. Not a bad script. Many good support people. I am a big Bud Cort fan, so I rented this movie to see Bud Cort. Die Laughing is the first movie that Bud Cort was in after the 1979 car accident that changed his life and drained his bank account, God Bless Him. In this movie Mr. Cort is wearing his own real cast and scars. Cort performs well enough here as the mad scientist type. Being over 50 years old, I had almost forgotten about Robby Benson, but Robby was a teen heart throb back in the day and rightly so. The movie has Robby singing his heart out. Good songs, good lyrics and that Benson smile that no one else has ever had and maybe no one else ever will.

Of course not a masterpiece, but it really is an oddball dark comedy and pretty ballsy for a teen heartthrob to make at the height of his popularity. I mean a big gag during the credits roll involves a mass murder! Soonafter a great gag involves a corpse!I saw it repeatedly at the theater as a kid & found the goofy monkey humor, sinister plot, sunny music, and weird jokes(villain doesn't like to be touched, "doing doing doing") irresistible. Seriously! If Will Ferrell made this exact same flick now it would be a monster! I've viewed it every few years since and it never fails to amuse and confound me. I'm puzzled why it hasn't come out on DVD. Robby should have stuck to comedy.

This is one of those not-so-great movies technically, but is fun to watch every few years. The music *is* good (if you are receptive to Robby Benson, 1970's folkish material. The characters are interesting. The story is same-old, so watch it for the occasional scenes that will tickle your funny bone and charm their way into your subconscious. Watch it with your favorite SO, and soon you too will be repeating lines like, "Ya gotta KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!" and "Pinsky!? Pinsky!? What Pinsky? Where Pinsky? ..... 'Minsky'!!!!" and of course, "Doing, doing, doing.."

This movie is lots of fun. The music makes it a great movie viewing experience.