I believe that this is the film that the video store customer returned, claiming "I just love Bill Cosby pictures" before she was beaten to death by a huge leg of some animal from her refrigerator by Kathleen Turner in "Serial Mom". It was director John Waters' slam on the Coz's film career, unsuccessful in spite of his long running situation comedy. As directed by his old pal Sidney Poitier whom he started with in some successful '70s action comedies, this had several things going for it even though it didn't deliver as a big screen comedy. It was a big disaster so I wasn't really expecting to laugh or like anything about it. In fact, I didn't think that I'd even make it half an hour into the film. But the film got my attention with its suspense of how his character of the neglectful widowed father would die, and the first 20 minutes of the movie had me hooked.
If this film had been made in the '60s or '70s, it obviously would have starred Jerry Lewis. That occurred to me with some of the antics that Cosby does, his schtick always having been Jerry Lewis like with funny faces and comical voices, but where the humor comes from is from the situations, not from the mind of a show-off. That kind of comedy can only make people laugh so much which is why I suppose his films did not do well because it was him dominating every moment, not sharing with an ensemble which was the reason for his success on TV.
Is this film really as bad as it is said to be? In my opinion, not really, but it certainly isn't original. The idea of a ghost having something they need to finish in their life has been done on screen since the days of the silent era. Ian Bannen is his sophisticated after life rep, Sir Edith Moser, a joke that is funny the first 10 times but gets tired after a while. For some reason, his kids are able to see their dead dad in all sorts of wacky ways, trying to wrap up there relationship and leave everybody at peace. There are certain ways of interesting, well intended ideas, but they are not executed in a way that works. "Beetlejuice" this isn't. It's a missed opportunity that suffers from a weak script and probably far too much sentiment.v.
If this film had been made in the '60s or '70s, it obviously would have starred Jerry Lewis. That occurred to me with some of the antics that Cosby does, his schtick always having been Jerry Lewis like with funny faces and comical voices, but where the humor comes from is from the situations, not from the mind of a show-off. That kind of comedy can only make people laugh so much which is why I suppose his films did not do well because it was him dominating every moment, not sharing with an ensemble which was the reason for his success on TV.
Is this film really as bad as it is said to be? In my opinion, not really, but it certainly isn't original. The idea of a ghost having something they need to finish in their life has been done on screen since the days of the silent era. Ian Bannen is his sophisticated after life rep, Sir Edith Moser, a joke that is funny the first 10 times but gets tired after a while. For some reason, his kids are able to see their dead dad in all sorts of wacky ways, trying to wrap up there relationship and leave everybody at peace. There are certain ways of interesting, well intended ideas, but they are not executed in a way that works. "Beetlejuice" this isn't. It's a missed opportunity that suffers from a weak script and probably far too much sentiment.v.