BIG MAN ON CAMPUS (1989)

This shit didn’t click with me. Long-story short, there’s a fully-grown adult dude living in a clock tower at a large university in Los Angeles. He’s hairier than Cousin Itt’s left nut and spends all of his time watching a female student by the name of Cathy. Shit happens and he swings down on a rope to break up a fight involving her. Dude is taken into custody and instead of being place under state care, he’s released under the supervision of the university. Naturally, the school assigns a single student, Cathy’s boyfriend and full-time Steve Guttenberg impersonator, Alex to watch over ol’ boy 24 / 7. Makes sense.

I don’t know, I’m already bored with this review. Ends up the dude’s name is Bob Maloogaloogaloogaloogalooga (hardy-har-har, isn’t that funny?!) and the reason he was in the tower is because when he was a little child his father abandoned him, then his mom died and some people abused him and he ran away and was homeless forever. Wow, that’s a really great story for a comedy. Nothing funnier than life-destroying child abuse.

Okay pacing, weak story, zero nudity, zero gore, one joke that was later used in ZOOLANDER (the "center for ants" bit), a drink called "TEAM (Decaf)" (I have no idea what that is, some sort of coffee I guess), the dudes hump is never explained and barely even mentioned, no cursing, disappointing ending, a cop car arriving twice. Another thing that bothered me about this film was how boring the college setting was. Usually when a movie is filmed on a college campus you get to see some interesting fashions and people (or maybe even a dude with a clapperboard!), but in BIG MAN ON CAMPUS it was really bland. Even the mall scene was weak.

I’m sure there are tens of billions of thousands of people out there who love this movie, I just found the entire thing to be lifeless and dull. Also, Bob Maloogaloogaloogaloogalooga's voice was really annoying. Watch it if you want.

[This has nothing to do with the review, but this story was told again in the blu-ray extras. Like, the whole story is confusing because how much did this movie cost? And did it even make money? Why would somebody turn down a million dollars (in 1980's money) to not do something?]

FLETCH LIVES (1989)

After cashing in at the box office with the first film, the filmmakers decided to drop the appealing BEVERLY HILLS COP vibe and the exciting Los Angeles settings and replace it with our hero Fletch investigating illegal toxic chemical dumping in a dank Louisiana swamp. Yeah, that’s what audiences wanna see: tired ass Deep South racism jokes and toxic waste humor. And, I guess, it was because FLETCH LIVES was the #1 film in America two weeks in a row.

Fletch’s aunt dies and leaves him a “mansion” (in Jerkwater, Louisiana) that’s so rickety and dilapidated that it’d probably fall over if a raccoon farted on it. But, since photography had not been invited yet in 1989, Fletch doesn’t know about the state of the mansion and instead goes there to retire. Once there, in classic movie storytelling fashion, he immediately bones the first woman he sees and is then arrested for her murder when she turns up dead the next morning. Rape humor, KKK jokes, bigoted small town cop comedy, Nazi knee-slappers and hemorrhoid rib-ticklers ensue.

I remember seeing FLETCH LIVES back in 1989 and not being impressed. It's even less impressive now. I was really hoping that upon a re-visit that I’d understand more of the adult-oriented humor and the movie would be funnier. Nope! I did get all the jokes this time around, they're just not funny. That said, I was impressed by the (male heavy) cast, but sadly, the talents of Cleavon Little, R. Lee Ermey, Phil Hartman, Hal Holbrook and Geoffrey Lewis were all wasted here.

Worth a watch, if you're in the mood for a forgettable, lazy rainy afternoon time-waster.

Part 1 - Fletch (1985)
Reboot - Confess, Fletch (2022)