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    Young Frankenstein

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    If you’re a fan of Mel Brook’s humour, “Young Frankenstein” is arguably his best work. You should absolutely watch it. If you’re not a fan his comedic style, there’s nothing here that will change your mind. Don’t get me wrong, I recommend the film but as a person that just doesn’t “get” the man’s humour, I can only admire it on a technical and theoretical comedic level.

    Gene Wilder plays Freddy Frankenstein. That’s pronounced Fronk-en-steen because the man wants to distance himself from his grandfather’s work. That’s until he’s approached with a copy of his grandfather’s will, a hunchback descendant of Victor/Henry Frankenstein’s original assistant Igor (pronounced Eye-gore and played by Marty Feldman) and a sexy, lusty lab assistant named Inga (Terri Garr) whose real purpose around the lab is not very… scientific. The fever takes a hold of Freddy and despite his initial protest he begins assembling a monster of his own (Peter Boyle)

    I’m going to use my magic amateur critic powers to split this reviews into two. First I’ll describe the movie as a person that likes the humour, then as a person that does not but first, a few words. Most people love this movie and I understand that it’s worth seeing regardless of how much I laughed. If you are interested in “Young Frankenstein”, you can significantly enhance your movie-viewing experience by watching the first three of Universal’s Frankenstein Movies: 1931’s “Frankenstein”, 1935 “Bride of Frankenstein” and finally “Son of Frankenstein” (1939), which provides the inspiration for Kenneth Mars’ character Inspector Kemp. It’s uncanny how well the locations in those films are recreated. If you didn’t know any better, you would have sworn that they had been taken straight out of a time machine from the days where Boris Karloff was playing the monster. It’s really amazing because no detail has been overlooked. The black-and-white cinematography, the elaborate lab equipment, the music, even specifics like the use of fog in nearly every single outdoor scene are all dead-on. With the first three movies fresh in your mind, you appreciate how perfect the parodies of the monster’s meeting with little Maria, the blind recluse in the forest, its imprisonment by the townspeople and the botched theft of the normal brain are all done. You couldn’t ask for a better, more loving spoof of those scenes.

    “Young Frankenstein” is a serious contender for Mel Brook’s best work. There are many funny moments throughout. Freddy’s discovery of a secret passage; a game of darts between Freddy and Inspector Kemp; Igor’s peculiar, mobile hump; a dance sequence set to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” and a scene where Freddy and Igor have to get away with the crime of grave robbing are hilarious and memorable. This is not a mean-spirited parody. It loves those films and if you do too, you won’t be offended at the jokes; you’ll appreciate seeing a fan bring an affectionate homage to life. Look forward to many of Brook’s humour staples, such as running gags about character’s names being comical variations on the “real” names, winks to the audience and a couple of sex jokes thrown in right to ensure everyone gets a happy ending in more than one way.

    If you’re not a fan of Mel Brook’s humour, like myself, you can try as much as you want to like this movie but it won’t break through that barrier. I tried so hard to love this movie, and I just don’t. I admire it but that’s all. If overacting is not your thing, if a character turning to the camera to explain to you why a joke was funny, if a buggy-eyed hunchback doesn’t make you laugh instantly, you’re doomed walking in. As is the man’s style, jokes that some will find funnier with repetition will become irritating to others. I found several scenes to be funny, but the pacing and timing to be lopsided. Like a prisoner in a cell reaching for keys on the belt of a sleeping guard, I could recognize what was just out of my reach, and it breaks my heart. Yes, there were times where I really laughed hard, even if the jokes were predictable, but for every one of those, I found many that were tired and lame. Take, for example a scene where Freddy and Igor are digging up a grave. Igor says that it was rough, but at least it couldn’t get any worse! Well guess what, it gets worse. How inventive! For the most part I found the picture fine enough, but then two things happened that killed it for me. Firstly, “Young Frankenstein” runs way too long. Perhaps it’s because it’s parodying three movies at once, and not in the way that it’s taking little pieces out of them, but taking the entire plot out of two movies and sprinkling in characters from a third movie in. With a definite point where the movie could have ended... and then discovering that it goes on into a new plot that takes an extra half hour it overstayed its welcome. Then, there’s what we find in so many Mel Brooks comedies, a series of really uncomfortable sex jokes thrown at the end. They’re not meant to be mean-spirited, but if I described to you what happened out of context, you’d be disturbed instead of amused.

    Someday, “Young Frankenstein”... Eventually I will be in the right mood for you, or something will happen to my brain that I will fall in love with your jokes, as so many have. I cannot repeat enough that this is a good film. It’s funny, it’s well made, clever and memorable. Just because I had personal issues with it doesn’t mean you will. In fact, I hope you don’t. I hope I’m the only person this comedy doesn’t appeal to. I highly recommend “Young Frankenstein”, even if it’s not something I will be revisiting anytime soon. (On DVD, August 19, 2014)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  4.12.2015 age: 26-35 2,866 reviews

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