The Burbs - Movie Review
so at the end of my review for totally
killer I asked you something along the
lines over your Halloween binge what's a
movie that's more fun than scary when I
ask you these questions I don't always
answer them in fact I rarely ever do but
I thought about this one what's mine
took me all of 3 seconds to answer which
is admittedly 2 seconds too long
although this is a movie not just for
Halloween this is a movie that's good
for any time of the year this is my
answer and I'm sticking to it so let's
talk about
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it
so the BBS is a Joe Dante cult classic
dark comedy from the late 80s it's also
a movie that has a Critic score of
rotten on Rotten Tomatoes what I don't
understand it everybody as much as you
remember that dress that was white and
gold or black and blue people saw one or
the other and the internet just kind of
fought over it every bit as much as
people on one side of that argument
could not see what people saw on the
other side of that argument I do not
understand how the BBS is rotten on
Rotten Tomatoes Tom Hanks plays Ray
Peterson the lead of our film he's
married to his wife Carol played by
Carrie fiser they live in the suburbs on
this culdesac next door to them on this
culdesac is a family named the CLC a
family no one really knows much about
the CLC house looks like the house from
it this taking place during the satanic
Panic of the 80s Ray Peterson and his
friends played by Bruce D and Rick
dukeman they're convinced that their
neighbors are satanic serial killers so
they do what neighbors do in the suburbs
they Snoop which is to say this is a
dark comedy with elements some slapstick
elements as well but
amazingly the genres never intrude on
each other at all works this actually
has a pretty amazing allegory on
Suburbia you know on neighbors because
neighbors are just known to metal that's
right Little Jeremy lived on a little
culdesac and it's not unlike this there
are exaggerations for the sake of
entertainment and comedy but the
elements are here all the adults in the
neighborhood Whispering theorizing about
the weird neighbors the youth like Ricky
Butler played by Corey Feldman in this
film just sitting on his porch watching
it all unfold for his entertainment it's
how I felt I was like this is real this
is my neighborhood everyone in the film
is amazingly cast and play off each
other perfectly Rick dukeman hope I'm
saying his name correctly because he's
amazing in the film and he's actually a
very Central and important character in
the film because he's the one who's
stirring the pot like if you took Bruce
D's character out of the film you would
still have a film being a less
interesting one also I hear tale that
Bruce D ad libed a lot of his lines
there's a lot of hilarious stuff on The
Cutting Room floor don't doubt it at all
he is to me the funniest one in the
film there go the goddamn brownies art
if you take him out of the film you
wouldn't have a film everyone would be
peeking out the curtains theorizing
about the CLC but he's the one who
really stirs the pot gets everyone
worked up to the point of being in and I
got to tip my hat to Carrie Fisher in
here as you know the one sane character
in the entire film it does hilariously
play on the difference between the
husbands and wives you know Carrie
Fisher's character is like we're going
to go over there we're going to have a
nice friendly neighborly chat Bonnie's
like I'll bring brownies this will be
more productive the husbands are like
night vision scopes across the street
that's how we're going to find out the
truth that kind of [Ø¢ __Ø¢ ] cracks me up
it's like every comedian's jokes about
the difference between husbands and
wives wrapped up into one film and I
thought the clcs were perfect L cast as
well they're weird yes but they're not
overtly scary on the special features
Joe Dante was talking about how Dr CLC
was supposed to be this big scary guy
but he's like but Henry Gibson he's kind
of unassuming and that's better because
the audience isn't supposed to be like
yep husbands are right the audience is
supposed to be in the dark they're
supposed to be theorizing and guessing
with everyone else in the neighborhood
this film does also have a brief role by
Dick Miller has that man gotten an award
for just being there for all of us in
our childhoods in all the films we
remember him and Robert picardo as the
garbage men sometimes these brief roles
just steal the scenes there also an
appreciation for the continuity all this
garbage gets thrown out of their garbage
truck onto the street and for the rest
of the movie the garbage is still in the
street how many other people would have
made this same film and the garbage
would have just been gone without any
explanation continuity like that makes
the film feel lived in the devils in the
detail also as a person who doesn't talk
about musical scores enough Jerry
Goldsmith score for this film Jerry
Goldsmith and Joe Dante it's like that's
a combination that always creates gold
I've been listening to the BBS in Inner
Space on repeat all week cuz just it's
good music music is a wild thing in
cinema you change the music you change
the tone and sometimes the tone is
completely perfect because of the
composer like imagine home alone without
John Williams doing the musical score
different film the BBS without Jerry
gold smith same thing it's Jerry
Goldsmith's score that's guiding you
down the tone of what you're supposed to
be feeling at any given time just feels
like Jerry Goldsmith had fun with it you
know when Bruce D would come on screen
you hear notes from the patent theme
it's light fun carefree and Whimsical
during the setup but then that Oregan
music comes on when you start seeing the
CLC more it's kind of funny of all the
tracks in the musical score for the BBS
I was listening to the music from the
dream sequence that Ray Peterson has
it's a great piece of music but it
really it's a it's a dark comedy about
meddling about paranoia it's a Black
Mirror On Suburbia I personally think
very effectively so and I think the way
it Blends all these genres together is
it's a very Joe Dante thing you ever
have that thing in your mind I do I
think about this where it's like oh they
don't make movies like that anymore you
know movies like that and when I really
deconstructed it what I meant was they
don't make movies like 880s Joe Dante
anymore the BBS in space Gremlins
explorers explorers is well it's an
incomplete film but still there is an
argument to be made well all right here
we go spoilers for the end of the BBS if
you haven't seen the BBS yet you should
go watch the BBS it's great it's
fantastic and I'm going to talk about
the end because that if I can theorize
might be where the fork in the road is
for people who enjoy the movie and don't
possibly I don't know for sure but
you've been warned
seriously I'm going to give you a couple
more seconds to leave before I talk
about the end of the BBS all right so if
I'm putting on my devil's advocate
glasses here I can see an argument for
the way the ending of the BBS ties
everything up in a nice little bow and
everyone's essentially justified in
their paranoia might be the thing that's
possibly offputting for people it's just
in the way the movie sets it up you know
Tom Hanks has this epic meltdown about
how the clpex aren't the lunatics they
are it's people like them who mow their
lawns 4,800 times and then snap that's
them that's not the CLC it's a great
monologue about don't judge a book by
its cover and yeah maybe people like the
clcs keep to themselves because they
live next door to people who would break
into their houses then that leads into
the very end of the movie where there
are bones in the kopex trunk of the car
and all right well they actually were
killers and well there we go it does
kind of undo an otherwise profound
monologue by Tom Hanks I will say in
terms of Comedy the end of the movie
that we have does make it satisfying and
ties it up in a little bow we're rooting
for Tom Hanks and hey he was justified
great we can all sleep at night and
there are multiple endings for this
movie none of which I have found make it
to where the clcs are not Killers but if
they had made an ending where the clcs
were not serial killers or at the very
least we never found out if they were we
just kind of left with all right well
were they or weren't they don't know
there was still that femur in the
backyard I guess we'll never know know
there might have been a Criterion
release of the BS at this point for
being you know 30 years ahead of its
time I bring it up because maybe it's
the ending that's making it or breaking
it for people I don't know in the end
some call the BBS a classic some call it
a cult classic but me I just call it
awesome
tacular just using my powers to to bump
the BBS up a little bit in the Tomato
Meter funny thing before I do videos on
movies that have been out for a while
movies I've seen a hundred times over
I'll always go back and revisit it
because hey what will I catch now that I
didn't catch before I did catch this
this time around in this watch it's my
own fan Theory [Ø¢ __Ø¢ ] but I think
there's a strong argument to be made for
art actually being the serial killer in
the neighborhood when we first see him
he's trying to kill small animals he is
hellbent on catching the kex one of two
reasons if we're going down this Rabbit
Hole of theories one he's trying to
deflect and take the attention off of
him or two he sees something in the
clpex that he has in himself he can spot
a serial killer cuz he is a serial
killer we never see his wife we see his
wife at the very end of the movie but
this end of the movie isn't actually the
only ending there is it's just the only
ending I've seen or heard about that
actually shows his wife briefly before
that one insert in this ending that
wasn't the original ending of the film
you just never see Art's wife he just
says oh she's out of town which could be
code for he killed her he's Al the one
who knows the most about skip the
Suburban serial killer he talks about
once in here and when Ray Peterson's
having his satanic Panic dream about the
CL PEX he has art as skip the serial
killer almost like his subconscious put
art in that role because his brain's
trying to tell him something about art
just an observation again we're we're in
the weeds with the deep cut fin Theory
[Ø¢ __Ø¢ ] I haven't heard this anywhere
else I haven't looked for it either it's
just a thing that popped in my head
while I was watching it this last time
all right so the BS have you seen it
what did you think about it what's your
favorite Joe Dante
film I don't know that this is even my
favorite Joe Dante film another video
for another time I guess whatever it is
whatever you think comment below let me
know and as always if you like what
you've seen here and you want to see
more click right here to see
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