Movie Review: Who's Harry Crumb

Who's Harry Crumb (1989) 

Directed by Paul Flaherty

Written by Robert Conte, Peter Martin Wortmann

Starring John Candy, Jeffrey Jones, Annie Potts, Shawnee Smith

Release Date February 3rd, 1989

Published February 3rd, 2019 

Who’s Harry Crumb is a childhood guilty pleasure for me. This 1989 John Candy goof-around hit my 13 year old sensibilities square in the bullseye. Dorky, awkward and deeply silly, this detective spoof, for me, was peak John Candy. And that is saying something considering that John Candy was the defining comic face of my childhood. While others worshipped at the altar of the SNL crowd or Steve Martin or Eddie Murphy, John Candy was my comedian. 

Admittedly, much of John Candy’s work hasn’t aged well and Harry Crumb is a good example of that. Much of what John Candy did was variations on the big guy falls down style of humor, before Chris Farley picked up that mantle, but Who’s Harry Crumb at least wasn’t all humor based on Candy’s size. Most of Harry Crumb was based on the pure silliness of Candy’s persona, his talent for goofball antics and comic mimicry.

Who’s Harry Crumb stars John Candy as the titular detective, Harry Crumb. Hired to investigate the kidnapping of a millionaire’s daughter, Harry doesn’t know that he’s been hired specifically to screw up the case. Harry’s boss at the Crumb & Crumb detective agency, Eliot Draisen (Jeffrey Jones), specifically gave the case to Harry because Harry is the least competent detective in the agency. Eliot himself is behind the kidnapping of fashion model Jennifer Downing (Renee Coleman) and Eliot assumes that Harry can't possibly solve the case. 

Harry’s style is bizarre as he enjoys wild and elaborate costumes that he believes fool everyone when in reality, he’s fooling no one. Harry’s saving grace is Nikki (Shawnee Smith), the sister of Jennifer, the kidnapped model and the one person who believes that Harry can crack the case, if only with her help. The duo gets on the trail and despite Harry’s bizarre ways, they manage to crack a couple of leads.

No, as an adult viewer of Who’s Harry Crumb, I cannot defend this goofball nonsense. But, as a piece of loopy, childish, nostalgia, I still can’t get enough of this movie. It’s like fatty food, I know it’s not good for me, but Who’s Harry Crumb is really great junk food. It all comes back to John Candy who was among the most lovable lugs ever on the big screen. Candy, for a kid, was comic gold. His anything for a laugh approach never failed to hit me right in the funny bone. 

A scene set to Bonnie Tyler’s Holding Out for a Hero with Candy riding atop an airport staircase vehicle, chasing down the duo of Tim Thomerson and Annie Potts, is such a dumb and cliched scene but I could not stop laughing at it as a kid and the nostalgia makes it hold up for me today. If a movie today featured a similar scene I would probably complain but because it is Candy and it is Who’s Harry Crumb, I find it completely hysterical. 

A new edition of Who’s Harry Crumb is coming to DVD and Blu Ray on Tuesday and if you have young kids who love truly goofy humor based on daft characters falling down and dressing up in strange costumes, I kind of recommend this movie. It’s rated PG. Some of the costumes probably don’t hold up to modern standards of Political Correctness, but it’s hard to hold that against the movie and especially against the late Mr Candy who was always a good hearted goof.

Movie Review: Who's Your Caddy?

Who's Your Caddy (2007)

Directed by Don Michael Paul

Written by Robert Henny 

Starring Big Boi, Tamala Jones, Jeffrey Jones, Faizon Love

Release Date July 27th, 2007

Published July 29th, 2007

There have been too many Caddyshack ripoffs to count since that comedy classic arrived more than 20 years ago. Few however, have been so blatantly thieving as the comedy Who's Your Caddy. Though it is given a racial twist, Who's Your Caddy lifts the raucous, us vs them scenario of Caddyshack and does little to distinguish itself from the dozens of other imitators.

C-Note (Big Boi) is the impresario of one of the largest empires in all of hip hop. Puff Daddy asks this guy for a loan. C-Note has it all but what he wants more than anything else is admission to a prestigious golf club that he has always dreamed of playing at. Unfortunately, the club's stuffy owner Mr. Cummings (Jeffrey Jones) and his stable of cronies refuse to let him in.

If you think C-Note would accept such rejection you are mistaken. Buying property that includes a small portion of the golf course, C-Note won't give up his new digs, and give back the courses 18th hole unless they let him become a member. In the meantime, the club dispatches their new chief legal counsel, Shannon (Tamala Jones) to try and negotiate things. No surprise, C-Note falls for the lawyerette.

If you guessed that everything comes down to a contest on the course, well duh! Of course it does and I bet you can guess how that turns out as well. Sometimes it's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it. Who's Your Caddy offers little of anything new in what it's about but does have some charm in how it goes about it.

Who's Your Caddy is amateur in direction but what it lacks in cinematic chops, it attempts to make up with energy and good humor.  The cast is game, the humor is inoffensive and the hip hop soundtrack, including new music from star Big Boi, is not bad. Indeed Who's Your Caddy is not a bad movie overall. It's just not a very good movie.

Rapper turned actor Big Boi has three major credits under his belt, ATL, Idlewild and now Who's Your Caddy, and while he lacks the polish of his fellow portly rap star turned actor, Ice Cube, or the raw energy and charisma of his Outkast partner Andre Benjamin, he does have a laid back comfort on screen that plays like charm. His work is effortless and at ease and he makes Who's Your Caddy float by in its just over 90 minute runtime.

Not a truly bad movie but far from a good one, Who's Your Caddy is another forgettable Caddyshack rerun that fails to provide any motivation for audiences to get excited about it. The cast is amiable and good natured and they seem to be having a lot of fun on screen but that fun doesn't always pass on to the audience.

There is potential in Big Boi as an actor but he needs to leave behind forgettable, juvenile junk like Who's Your Caddy.

Movie Review How High

How High (2001) 

Directed by Jesse Dylan 

Written by Dustin Abraham

Starring Method Man, Redman Mike Epps, Jeffrey Jones

Release Date December 21st, 2001 

Published August 1st, 2002 

I'm a total sucker for movies set in college. Maybe it's because I went to community college and never experienced real campus life, thus I enjoy the idealized versions on the big screen. I love movies like the small-time comedy PCU with Jeremy Piven or Reese Witherspoon's 2001 hit Legally Blonde, I even liked With Honors! So I had an immediate soft spot for How High, though it is more about pot than college. The classic college movie cliches are in place and their familiarity along with the stars' relaxed performances help make How High one of the funniest movies of the year.

The plot creates the quickest way to get two drug-addled goofs into Harvard where the typical culture clash cliches come up. Battles with white-bred jocks and overly officious school officials, and the obvious romantic angles. Yet I still found ways to like How High. The two lead rappers, Method Man and Redman, have such a relaxed manner onscreen they look like they've been doing it forever. For the record they both have acted before, Method Man showed the same relaxed manner and chops in Black & White, more than holding his own opposite people like Robert Downey JR and Ben Stiller.

Of course the title may suggest another origin for their laid back acting styles. Whatever it is, both Method Man and Redman are fun to watch and hysterically funny and the supporting players are even better, especially Mike Epps best known as Ice Cube's foil in Next Friday. Epps plays the funniest pimp since Antonio Fargas was Huggie Bear.

The film is directed by first-timer Jesse Dylan, and yes if you were wondering he is related to Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers. He directed How High not as just a pot comedy but as a broad, over the top satire of college movies and it worked for me. I laughed almost from beginning to end.

How High is stupid, ridiculous and one of the funniest movies of the year. And more than likely, High Times movie of the year.