#DROP DEAD FRED HOW TO#

But every once in a while, the label will surprise you with a flick that offers more than entertainment and laughs. Vinegar Syndrome tends to go for the stupid-fun movies, like Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies and Ticks. He simply wants to bring some thrill to your life and have you recognize your self-worth.

Instead of being completely overwhelming, Drop Dead Fred does what he needs to shake things up and ducks out when the dirty stuff hits the fan.

#DROP DEAD FRED HOW TO#

And thankfully, the movie knows how to use him. Mayall yelling, “snot face,” and “mega beast” (he uses another b-word later), has such an infectious energy. There’s an art to what he does, much like Robin Williams. It’s all in how the late Mayall delivers his lines. But the humor can hit you in unexpected ways. But I promise once you get past all the booger flickin’ and upskirt peeking, its emotional intelligence surfaces. Some may see this as too looney to settle with. And for that, the movie has worth that has gone mostly unseen. You just don’t expect a movie like this to have such a meaningful message about how it’s up to you to carve an exciting life and step away from what’s holding you back from being your best self. Underneath all his destructive antics (glass breaking and poo smearing) is a work that serves as a scary examination of repressed female assertion, parental abuse, and how a cry for help can be misread as being problematic. So, when Charles says that he’s seeing someone else, Elizabeth cannot recognize that her life is so much better off without him because her uptight mother’s behavior kept her from being able to speak her mind and have thoughts of her own.ĭrop Dead Fred (an excellent Rik Mayall) swoops in to help Elizabeth find her identity. Elizabeth’s car-selling fiancé, Charles (Tim Matheson of Animal House), constantly puts her on the back burner to chase other women. Her Elizabeth will twist herself like a pretzel for people. Feel your heart sink when a mother tells her kid, “Sometimes, I don’t think I love you as much as I used to.”Īs a kid obsessed with this movie, Phoebe Cates’ character’s emotional trauma didn't register with me. But then, mature themes will enter the picture to keep it grounded. Just look at the goofy but lovely opening credits sequence, where a playful jingle is accompanied by cheesy sound effects, such as pies in faces and banana peel slips. It’s a tricky tone to pull off, especially here, because, on the one hand, Drop Dead Fred has a Saturday morning cartoon vibe. It’s like imagining Beetlejuice combined with some of the emotional pull of Mrs. Drop Dead Fred and Little Monsters feature reckless entities who challenge children feeling alone or unheard. This slapstick comedy will hit products of the ‘90s square in the heart, just as Little Monsters did for the misfits of the ‘80s a few years before.

Drop dead fred