Review #62 - That's Adequate (1990)

From the back of the box: "This is the story of Adequate Pictures, a whacked out and washed up movie studio with no money, no class, and no qualms about stealing ideas from other studios and making them their own. Adequate has, through the years, managed to give us such classics as "Einstein on the Bounty", "Baby Frankenstein", and "Singing in the Synagogue". The end result is the most outrageously comic and outlandish inside look into the workings of a movie studio since the beginning of Hollywood."

NOSTALGIC MOMENT: Remember when VHS tapes were first mass-marketed in the mid to late 1980's? You never bought them, you only rented them. This is because they were ungodly expensive. This particular VHS is marked $89.95. Isn't that just a trip?

Anyhow, this flick is a mockumentary, narrated by Tony Randall, about pseudostudio Adequate Pictures. It was actually funny at moments, depending on how you define the word "moment." I'm going for a period of time which lasts approximately 2-3 minutes. If that matches your personal definition, great. If you say a "moment" should be, oh, 10 minutes or so - well, then this film was not funny for a moment.

It's rated R because it has some crude parts and gratuitous nudity, just like everything else released in 1990. There were moments that my 11-year old covered his face. There were also times where I covered my face. They usually were not the same parts.

Our Hero portrays Albert Einstein in a snippet called "Einstein on the Bounty," which was about as good as you could expect it to be. He was young and had big, wild hair. It felt like I was looking at my high school annual, rather than watching a movie.

Bright spots: Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara; Bruce Willis; the "Stand-Up Comics for the Poor" sketch. The rest...uh...I don't really remember.

I didn't despise it as much as I have despised the last few films. That's about the biggest compliment I can give this one. For $89.95, I'll sell it to you. Just e-mail me. Hey, don't blame me - I didn't set the price.

A rating? How about a 4.5, because of Anne Meara's "interview" segment where she says, "my daughter hated me, but hey, you can't love everybody."