Funland

Understandably some people view this movie as a waste of time, but one man's trash is another's treasure. Funland was the creation of a couple of Saturday night live writers - and it shows. Some sections appear to be nothing more than skits filling out the storyline . . . and while some jokes work, some don't, but it's often in the eye of the beholder. Promo posters make it look like a psychotic clown on the rampage but Bruce Burger is the unwitting protagonist trying to save the one thing he believes in. When a mob family take over an amusement park and fire the mentally unstable resident clown he retreats to the closed down wax museum. Here the film takes a bizarre turn as he finds companionship with Marilyn Monroe, Bogart and his hand puppet Peter Pepperoni. They all come 'alive' sometimes preaching tolerance and other times revenge. He's also visited by the murdered ex-owner who wants him to stop the mob destroying the park they both love. Watch out for Bruce's hilarious descent into madness (complete with scantily clad angel of death) when the cafeteria men start rapping and a poster advertising the new roller-coaster, 'Man's Biggest Thrill Is Coming'.

Lavern and Shirley, SNL and the Police Academy films are all represented by the main characters and films writers. The director is also responsible for Sleepaway Camp II & III, the goofy sequels to the legit original. Add a parody of the Godfather and every stereotype of 80s movie characters, and you get this movie. It's slightly funny, but it doesn't come close to being horror, or even horror comedy. Watch it for the over the top acting and ridiculous plot, which at times is pretty funny. But the best parts are the background conversations "you kids are gonna have fun if I have to beat it out of you" (look for the mom of this scene, a pre-Trump Marla Maples), or the jokes in the sets, like the sign before the line of a ride that shows a clown holding a rubber sphere that says "you must be as tall as my balls to ride this attraction". It's all stupid sophomoric humor, but it's still funny. Not a must see, but a good rainy day movie with friends trying to spot the little hidden jokes.

I'm sure many people sit down to watch this film expecting horror. Although the chintzy tagline does suggest an even chintzier slasher flick, this movie rises above that genre. It's not a slasher flick at all, which is just fine. If anything, I would definitely classify this film in the Dark Comedy genre. It's almost an amusing and mocking look at insanity. The story is an interesting one, and a very creative one at that. Watch it if you enjoy a good chuckle, but not if you're looking for some cheap gore or contrived "pop-out" scare tactics. Prepare yourself for lots and lots of ethnic stereotyping, but done in such a way that it mocks those who actually believe in such stereotypes. The thing that makes this film a dark comedy is not only its ability to poke fun at bigots by catering to their ridiculous beliefs, but also at the utter random (and often crude) humor. If you enjoy films like Better Off Dead and I Love You to Death, it's almost guaranteed that you'll like this movie.

There are definitely several shining moments in "Funland", including some very "dark comedy", and an absolutely terrific Humphrey Bogart imitation by Robert Sacchi. David Lander is great as the delusional clown "Bruce Burger", the lovable "Funland" mascot. "Funland" reminds me of several others films, including in no small way, "Death to Smoochy". The problem is not the acting or the actors, which seem appropriate for the limited budget, it's the story line, which is quite scattershot, flipping between comedy, drama, and thriller. One thing it is not is a horror film, and anyone seeking splatter will be sorely disappointed. In summary, the whole movie does not amount to much, but there are some hidden gems in a very muddled story. - MERK

David Lander (Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley) plays Bruce Burger, an angry clown who talks to himself. Need I say more? Although I'm an old man and a lot of people reading this probably think "Laverne and Shirley" is a lesbian porn, I'll go on anyway. When the owner of Funland dies, a mob family buys the park and makes some changes that the parks clown doesn't approve of. After talking it over with his favorite puppet, he takes matters into his own hands. Don't get the wrong idea, this is meant to be a comedy although it's packaged more like a horror film. It's not a bad dark comedy if you can get past some of the bad acting but it did keep me mildly amused.