Going Overboard review

So there are movies where you have your set of expectations all set and you think of how that movie would be.  The movie isn't something that's going to be readily available for whatever reason so it could be a long time before you see this movie.  Then you finally have an outlet to see it, in this case Youtube Movies, and you sit down to watch it to see your expectations be met.  Sometimes this doesn't happen, it could be better than you thought it was going to be or worse than you thought it was going to be.  Then there's Going Overboard, Adam Sandler's first movie, which destroys your expectations and leaves you whimpering on the floor as your mind is unable to figure out what the hell just happened.  So let's sift through the wreckage as we dig into Going Overboard.

So the plot...hmmm...how to explain it.  Alright, Adam Sandler is some guy whose name is hard to spell and I'm too lazy to look up, Scheky Mascowicz or something similarly Jewish.  He wants to be a stand-up comedian but at the moment he's at a cruise ship as a waiter.  The real stand-up comedian on the boat is a jerk and will not relinquish his comedian status to Sandler or even let him open up for him.  You can't blame him, Sandler is kind of horrible until he gets confidence by Milton Berle and King Neptune...don't ask.  Meanwhile, Burt Young, that guy who played Paulie from all the Rocky movies, is one of those dictator-generals who is not only watching the movie but he popped the VHS tape into his personal VCR.  Yeah, that's the framing device but wait, it gets weirder!  During the movie, Miss Universe contestants talk about stuff and Ms. Australia insults Burt Young.  He summons two of his soldiers to kill her and they infiltrate the movie to kill her...the movie that Burt Young is watching.  Yeah........it's that kind of movie.

So I am of two minds on the movie.  One one hand it could easily be The Marine of comedy but in the other hand it could be a sure sense of surreal humor gone horribly right.  On The Marine side of things, this movie may be one of the worst-made movies ever.  And by worst-made I'm talking about the nuts-and-bolts of film making.  Someone with passing knowledge of the movie may know that the cameraman had to shoot with the wrong camera lenses.  Now what does this mean to Joe Viewer here?  It means that movie looks like every other frame was cut resulting in a jerky look that looks worse the father the subject is from the camera.  People move fine when there's an ultra close-up though. Then the shot compositions are horrible with people crowding each other and blocking each other so much that Sandler has to lean to be seen over a sea of people.  There are only two establishing shots of the boat, one at day and one at night that are used all the time.

Now how do you determine if a comedy is awesomely bad.  Most awesomely bad movies that I like are action movie that is over-the-top enough where laughter is inevitable.  How do you react to what's supposed to be comedy that's awesomely bad.  It can't be laughter otherwise then the comedy is intentionally working so you have a real conundrum going on but I think I may have an answer.  It's the perverse, entertaining fear of where the movie will go and fail next.  I know what you're thinking, a comedy that's scaring you is bad.  That's very true but I do think it works in the awesomely bad category.

Now on the surreal side of things, the movie does some decent fourth-wall breaking with Sandler talking to the camera.  He even flat-out admits that the movie was only made because they had access to a cruise ship and Miss Universe contestants.  He even says that the movie is a no-budget film and demonstrates it with a no-budget earthquake.  And he does it quite a few times, even pointing out that two characters, a rock star that kinda looks like a paler, less muscular Glenn Danzig and his agent played by Peter Berg, has nothing to do with the movie, they're just there for variety.  And yes that Peter Berg, the one who gave us Hancock and The Kingdom.  But wait, Billy Zane pops up as King Neptune who just literally walks on set in a $5 costume and gives Sandler a pep talk and his daughter at the end, he is awesome.  Then you have Milton Berle whose scene plays out as sitcom with a laugh track, which does kinda fit.  Finally there's Billy Bob Thorton in a small role and he has already perfected the "Bad Santa" persona when he tells Sandler "A corpse would be funnier than this."

This movie....entertained me for reasons totally unclear to me.  I have no idea whether it is supposed to be that bad or just a romp through the surreal playground.  The only thing that is clear to me that I was entertained even if I was paralyzed by fear.  Now would I actually go out of my way to tell other people to watch this movie, of course not.  My friends are well-adjusted enough to not see the attempted humor and surrealism of this.  But if you are as crazy as I am, give it a shot.  Maybe you'll like it but if you don't that's cool.

7/10

If you wish to figure this out, here's the link to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fcXzgJ_fBs