Les allumés de Beverly Hills

I admit, I was never a serious fan of the TV show, at least not until after I saw this movie. But in my opinion, this movie may have helped reintroduce the story of the Beverly Hillbillies to a new audience. I loved it.

Plot: It all starts when Jed Clampett discovers oil on his property. Then Aunt Pearl convinces him to move to Beverly Hills. What am I saying? Y'all know the story. It's the same story as the TV show. That's one of the best things about this movie; that it stays true to the TV show. In addition, Jed has decided to come to Beverly Hills mainly to "get hitched." Now this sounds like a funny story.

Cast: The actors were probably one of the biggest aspects of the movie. The cast was funny, but also believable. The late Jim Varney (Jed) was great in one of his best "non-Ernest" roles. Dabney Coleman (Mr. Drysdale) was convincing in his role. He probably got the experience from doing "9 to 5," which also starred his co-star Lily Tomlin. Lea Thompson and Rob Schneider (Laura and Tyler) play two cons who are trying to steal the Clampett fortune. They should've known better than going up against the Clampetts. There were many other great and hilarious performances from stars like Cloris Leachman, Erika Eleniak, and Diedrich Bader.

Humor: There was the prefect balance of humor and seriousness in this movie. And the crude humor was low. If there was too much stupid or crude humor, it would've brought down the whole movie. But there was just the right amount of humor, so the movie was good.

This one may be a bit too much for the younger viewer, unless it's been edited for a few bad jokes. I recommend this one for anybody who just wants to see a funny movie.

I enjoyed the bulk of the film - the middle part. It was just the first 20 minutes and the last 20 minutes that I thought were incredibly too stupid to enjoy.

In that middle segment, Diedrich Baker's and Lily Tomlin's facial expressions were the highlight. I didn't mind staring at Erica Eleniak and Lea Thompson, either! It is an entertaining cast, I'll give it that, with Jim Varney, Cloris Leachman, Dabney Coleman and Rob Schneider among others. There also is some very good country music in the soundtrack, too.

Otherwise, there isn't a whole lot of positive things to say because, really, much of the humor is Dumb, yes - with a capital "D."

You shouldn't go into watching this movie thinking you'll get something great or novel. After all, it IS based on the silly old TV series, which I thoroughly enjoyed back then. Erika Eleniak, former Playboy model, who plays Ellie May, is strikingly beautiful and does a fine job in this role. The late Jim Varney is also very good as Jed Clampett, Lily Tomlin is good in her role. Lea Thompson (first of Back To The Future fame) shows her acting range in a role as the scheming "French teacher" out to get Jed's money. I didn't particularly care for Rob Schneider's role, but wat the heck. Still, anyone who enjoyed the TV series should have fun watching this film.

Making a film from a book or play, regardless of how many times it was previously made is different than recasting an old TV sitcom and turning into a feature film. The difference is that in the first instance the films are based on characters as written down on paper from the mind of it's creator. No matter how many times A STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE is remade it always goes back to the characters, not the actors who portrayed them. Audiences will keep going back to the same play or film each time it is recast to see the subtle difference the recasting will change the role. That is why film versions of hit Broadway plays can be so successful. Remaking a TV sitcom is different. The new cast is not portraying the characters as originally written, they are portraying the actors' characterizations. So in films like THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES we are treated to what is essentially a Saturday Night Live style parody. Of course, some of the best SNL skits are parody and it is fun to watch when done well (impressions done well, and of course a good sense of poking fun at a beloved show). THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE was perhaps the best example of this. THE ADDAMS FAMILY was a remake, opting to go back to the original characters as created by Charles Addams in his comic strip. BATMAN and SUPERMAN also went back to their roots in the comic books and skipped most references to the TV show. In THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, the characters of Jed Clampett, Granny and the rest of the clan were created by Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, etc...and I really doubt any of the new cast searched out notes of the characters so much as they just reviewed the old shows. This is all right and in good fun and we have to keep in mind that Jim Varney is not so much playing Jed Clampett as he is playing Buddy Ebsen's Jed Clampett. Recently, someone went ahead and remade Laurel and Hardy (in which the characters and the actors were one and the same). It flopped because it wasn't a parody and the film treated the characters as if the original Stan and Ollie were merely players. THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES does not make this mistake, opting to literally morph the new cast out of our memories of the old cast. This movie has a cast that is hip, fun, and funny (you got to love a film that boasts a perfect, if not quite obvious casting of Jim Varney, Erika Eleniak, and Lily Tomlin--all giving great comedic performances). Is it better than the original? No, and I don't think it was suppose to be. It was just suppose to be a way to laugh at our past, and perhaps give fans a feeling that they are not alone with their adoration of one of the great TV shows of all time.

"The Beverly Hillbilles" is a disappointment for two reasons: (a), it comes from Penelope Spheeris, who brought us the funny "Wayne's World," and (b), it fails miserably at catching the charm of the television show. Yet with all the negative points of the film, it still manages to come of silly in its own way; it's a bad movie, but not a particularly harmful one, on the other hand.

The late Jim Varney plays Jed Clampett, who--as all we all know--discovers some oil out in Arkansas, becomes a millionaire, and moves his family out to Beverly Hills, California. This is the excuse for some half-brained and ultimately stupid gags that sometimes become so bad it's hard to watch, yet make up for themselves when the film starts to make fun of itself.

Jim Varney fits Jed pretty well, but too many of the actors and actresses seem forced and the dialogue is reminiscent of a straight-to-television flick written by authors with Writer's Block.

Too much of the film borrows from other films we've seen before--and the gags have been done in those films about ten times better. The cast is top-o'-the-notch, co-starring the likes of Lea Thompson, Cloris Leachmen, Dolly Parton, Rob Schneider, Dabney Coleman, and even the real Buddy Ebson in a cameo.

But a cameo by Buddy Ebson cannot save a badly written film.

There really is no excuse for why this film was so bad. It had a good director, an overall good cast, a good script-writer, some good cameos, and good potential for some parody. But instead it comes off dull, recycled and misused, and ultimately a rehash of everything we've seen before, done in a childish and cartoonish way.

So, yes, there are some good parts in the film, but it's not worth sitting through the rest of the film to see them.

1.5/5 stars -

John Ulmer