Review of Caddyshack (1980) by Ben L — 08 Dec 2015

The biggest problem with Caddyshack is its title. Before I get there let me assure you, I totally see the humor in this movie, and I laughed a ton. They have the magic of Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and a comedic unsung hero in Brian Doyle-Murray.

An endless supply of brilliant talent, so why in heaven's name do they try to center the story around the caddies?!? From what I understand they did dial back the amount of time spent on the caddies, but they needed to get even more brutal with their cuts and remove the caddies completely.

There is not one funny moment or worthwhile scene that happens because a caddie is on-screen. Even the guy who is ostensibly the "protagonist" of the movie, Danny, is annoying and not needed.

I'm not sure what the plot would look like if they tried to center it around the golfers, but plot is secondary in this kind of mad-cap comedy. I was impressed with how much of the humor holds up even now, and I really miss these days when every word that came out of Chevy Chase's mouth had the potential to make me double over in laughter.

There just wasn't enough time spent with the comedians, and I had no interest or investment in the plot they decided to focus the movie around. Not a bad film, and I can see the sparkles of brilliance that cause people to have such nostalgic love, but I would recommend someone who hasn't seen the movie before just watch the best scenes online and avoid watching the whole thing.