The 'Burbs (12A.)
Directed by Joe Dante.
Starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Wendy Schaal and Corey Feldman. 1988. Out on blu-ray from Arrow films. 101 mins.
The 'Burbs is an almost perfect 80s cinema artifact. It stars Tom Hanks, is directed by Joe Dante and is a brash, noisy comedy set in an American suburban cul-de-sac. Hell, it even has one of the Coreys in it – the one who didn't have a song written about him by The Thrills. Kids these days simply wouldn't believe how much of the eighties we spent watching movies set in American suburbia which, thanks largely to Spielberg's influence, was constantly being invaded, undermined or enlightened by alien and extra terrestrial forces. The mystery of The 'Burbs is wondering how I missed it on its initial release. What was I doing that week in 1988?
The invading force here is a family with a foreign name (the Klopeks), who live in a spooky house, make noise late at night, don't mow their lawn and don't socialise with the rest of the neighbourhood. And they do all this next door to Tom Hanks who is trying to have a quiet relaxing week off work at home. Prompted by his neighbours, a patriotic Nam vet called Rumsfield (Dern) and excitable overweight slob Art (Ducommun) he decides to confront the issue.
The film is a mix of broad mainstream comedy with quirkier little details. For example, the film plays a little meta trick by effectively casting the Corey Feldman character as the teen movie audience, sitting back smugly and inviting his friends round to watch the grown ups fool around for their entertainment. At this time the “wooooaaah shiiiiiiiiit” school of comedy was still dominant and the Ducommun's character, the greedy overweight agent of chaos was very much a stock character in the films of the period.
Dante at this point was still seen as part of the Spielberg Film Brat coterie, a man who could be trusted to handle the scripts he liked but didn't have time to do himself, most successfully with Gremlins. His films are very filmy; their points of reference are other films rather than real life. In The 'Burbs this meant that he could slip in quite ghoulish material while keeping a child friendly rating, but it also smooths off any edges the script has. The Klopeks live in a run down ghost house that is hillbilly gothic, equally Addams and Clampett family. This completely negates any uncertainty as to whether they are up-to-no-good or not and means the audience is invited to fake uncertainly about the film's outcomes. If the film was more grounded its barbs at the insularity of suburban life would have more bite.
The film has a built up a fond, not quite cult, following over the years and Dante is a director that film writers always type respectfully of, but with the best will in the world, I don't think it rates higher than a solid entertainment.
Extras.
The extras are almost creepily comprehensive and obsessive.
- a booklet on the film.
- a 1 hour 5 minute long Making of documentary featuring Dante and some lesser cast members.
- a commentary by writer Dana Olsen.
- a copy of the workprint taken from Dante's own copy with an extra feature with a director's commentary explaining the differences between this and the version that went into cinemas. I don't know if they're pushing the idea that this is a superior Director Cut but I will say that the....
- Alternate Ending is definitely tighter and better than the one in the film.
Directed by Joe Dante.
Starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Wendy Schaal and Corey Feldman. 1988. Out on blu-ray from Arrow films. 101 mins.
The 'Burbs is an almost perfect 80s cinema artifact. It stars Tom Hanks, is directed by Joe Dante and is a brash, noisy comedy set in an American suburban cul-de-sac. Hell, it even has one of the Coreys in it – the one who didn't have a song written about him by The Thrills. Kids these days simply wouldn't believe how much of the eighties we spent watching movies set in American suburbia which, thanks largely to Spielberg's influence, was constantly being invaded, undermined or enlightened by alien and extra terrestrial forces. The mystery of The 'Burbs is wondering how I missed it on its initial release. What was I doing that week in 1988?
The invading force here is a family with a foreign name (the Klopeks), who live in a spooky house, make noise late at night, don't mow their lawn and don't socialise with the rest of the neighbourhood. And they do all this next door to Tom Hanks who is trying to have a quiet relaxing week off work at home. Prompted by his neighbours, a patriotic Nam vet called Rumsfield (Dern) and excitable overweight slob Art (Ducommun) he decides to confront the issue.
The film is a mix of broad mainstream comedy with quirkier little details. For example, the film plays a little meta trick by effectively casting the Corey Feldman character as the teen movie audience, sitting back smugly and inviting his friends round to watch the grown ups fool around for their entertainment. At this time the “wooooaaah shiiiiiiiiit” school of comedy was still dominant and the Ducommun's character, the greedy overweight agent of chaos was very much a stock character in the films of the period.
Dante at this point was still seen as part of the Spielberg Film Brat coterie, a man who could be trusted to handle the scripts he liked but didn't have time to do himself, most successfully with Gremlins. His films are very filmy; their points of reference are other films rather than real life. In The 'Burbs this meant that he could slip in quite ghoulish material while keeping a child friendly rating, but it also smooths off any edges the script has. The Klopeks live in a run down ghost house that is hillbilly gothic, equally Addams and Clampett family. This completely negates any uncertainty as to whether they are up-to-no-good or not and means the audience is invited to fake uncertainly about the film's outcomes. If the film was more grounded its barbs at the insularity of suburban life would have more bite.
The film has a built up a fond, not quite cult, following over the years and Dante is a director that film writers always type respectfully of, but with the best will in the world, I don't think it rates higher than a solid entertainment.
Extras.
The extras are almost creepily comprehensive and obsessive.
- a booklet on the film.
- a 1 hour 5 minute long Making of documentary featuring Dante and some lesser cast members.
- a commentary by writer Dana Olsen.
- a copy of the workprint taken from Dante's own copy with an extra feature with a director's commentary explaining the differences between this and the version that went into cinemas. I don't know if they're pushing the idea that this is a superior Director Cut but I will say that the....
- Alternate Ending is definitely tighter and better than the one in the film.
