One Crazy Summer (1986)

...you know something's up.

The movie isn't all that bad. It's got a number of humorous moments in it. When it aired on HBO all those years ago I'd watch it to kill time, but I can't recall ever really laughing at the jokes and other gags (save the "Godzilla" scene).

The film making style is professional enough, but also some what spartan, and the gags (like in "Better Off Dead") are mostly telegraphed or trumped by the characters stating the obvious. There's a distinct lack of coverage with a heavy reliance on master shots and the actors' performances to carry the scenes (again much like Holland's previous film "Better Off Dead").

Historical footnote; one could call this the origins of crude humor in film, but that might be giving it too much credit.

I didn't find the movie all that funny way back then, and after seeing the DVD I still don't find it all that funny. Still, it has a certain appeal to it. It's worth a night's rental to see Bobcat Goldwaith if nothing else. Not great, but a decent film all around.

Fmovies: When I watched this movie, I wasn't quite sure what to think. It is certainly reminiscent of Better Off Dead, with many of the same cast members, similar animation scenes, and the same writer and director. I adored the animated sequences (especially the one in the very beginning!) and Cusack's performances throughout the movie, but on a whole, I feel that Better Off Dead is probably the better film. One Crazy Summer's plot is sort of all over the place. It doesn't seem like the romance is built up as much as it should have been. My least favorite part of the movie, I think, is the inclusion of the Stork Brothers. While to some people they might be considered humorous, I thought they were a horrible parody of people who are mildly retarded. Perhaps that wasn't the intent, but it definitely came off that way to my companions and myself.

In conclusion, I'd recommend this movie to big Cusack fans, but I'd also recommend keeping a remote in hand to fast forward through much of the movie.

Another movie that aired about 10,000 times too many on cable. I'm not exactly sure what audience I should recommend this to-- there's no gratuitous sex or T & A. No witty dialogue on the trials of being a young person. And nothing particularly screwball enough to qualify it as screwball comedy. It's just kind of there. Like a man's nipples or Wisconsin.

As far as I can tell, it's a movie about a cartoonist, a singer (note to Demi: don't quit the day job), a boat-race (always exciting, those boat-races are!) and a really deathly looking dog with a satellite dish around it's neck. Oh, and some sub-Family Circus animation.

This isn't good enough to be good, nor bad enough to be bad, it's the Cheerios of teen comedies. Although I must note, it's seriously teetering on the edge of Puffed Rice or Muslix with all those ultra-annoying Bobcat Goldthwait scenes. Are there really people out there that find this man funny? I mean, sober people?

The dog with one paw in the grave did make me laugh though. And so did the two ugly kids with the frozen faces. Eeeeeeek!!!!!!!!!!!

One Crazy Summer fmovies. ^ 4.5/10 I found this film to be very similar to "Better off Dead" in terms of premise and cartoons. However, "Better..." was so so much better because it was really interesting and the gags worked better. This film just seemed to drag on and on even though it was only 1.5 hours...it literally wouldn't end. Most of the characters were under-developed except for John Cusack who was great as usual. Those two Calamari characters were so damn annoying and really got on my nerves.

All in all the only things that stood out in the movie were John Cusack, the soundtrack and the animated cartoons were really fantastic. Otherwise boring film and I would rather watch "Better off Dead"

Despite this being one of John Cusack and Demi Moore's early films, it is one even hardcore fans can miss, unless they absolutely have to complete the collection. I have rare moments, where I can handle Better Off Dead, but this movie is ultimately worse. I am just not a Savage Steve Holland fan, and he did both movies. So if you don't like the cheesy, random comedy and amateur animation, steer clear of this one. FYI even for the Demi Moore fans: she can't sing and the 80s synthesizers did not save her. There are too many predictable twists and too-easy jokes. I suppose if you want mindless entertainment or something you can leave on in the background and ignore while you do something productive, then go for it. Otherwise, don't watch this movie. If John Cusack (or Demi Moore) couldn't save it, you know it's got to be bad. They are the only reason I didn't give this movie a 1.

1st watched 3/8/2011 -- 4 out of 10(Dir-Savage Steve Holland): Dumb little comedy romance with some animation thrown in has a couple of funny moments but the overall silly David vs. Goliath plot line where the weaker hero-type fights against a snot-nosed rich guy over his dignity is old and part of too many movies. The movie starts as a couple of high school graduates, played by John Cusack and Curtis Armstrong, decide to spend their summer at Nantucket Island looking for fun and a break away from their normal life before they have to make any longterm decisions. Demi Moore, plays the obvious eventual love interest to the main character, Hoops(who is named this despite the fact that he can't play basketball very well -- it was a parental hope). Instead Hoops is trying to get into Art school and trying to create a project to enter(this is the drawings we see throughout the movie). What happens is the movie presents us with a series of crazy characters and events making an overall crazy summer(thus the title). The crazy characters include an uncle who locked himself up in a room hoping to win a radio show millionaire contest, Bobcat Goldthwait -- playing one of the twins, who has one of the funnier scenes where he trounces around as godzilla recreating a scene from one of the monster's movies where he destroys a fake town with him screaming and smoke coming out his nostrils, and a young girl with a deformed dog where she puts a spell on anyone that laughs or says bad things about it. The gags are not the problem and are plentiful, and sometimes funny but the commonplace storyline with cardboard comedy-movie characters that are not developed is what holds this movie back. Overall this movie is really not that unique or funny despite it's attempts at being just that.