Review of Caddyshack (1980) by Ben R — 31 May 2015

Honestly, not as bad as I expected it to be. I mean, I know it's a classic and everything, but I'm not a big fan of old comedies like this that rely heavily on slapstick and sitcommy misunderstandings. I didn't like Animal House at all, and I thought this would be much the same.

It's a LITTLE similar, but not the same. Certainly, there's a lot of dumb things. I didn't really like any of Bill Murray's scenes except the one he shared with Chevy Chase. As much as I love Bill Murray (which helped me get through his scenes), his character was pretty silly. I hated the gopher stuff, partly because it was one-note and partly because that fake gopher was the fakest animal I've ever seen. I know that that's just because it's an older movie, and in some ways the obvious fakeness adds to the humor, but I don't know. It was just not my brand of humor.

That was the only thing I specifically didn't like in the movie, really. The movie has a kind of aimless feel, with no real plot aside from the golf match towards the end. I didn't mind that much. The whole movie in general was just really...inoffensive. That's both a good and bad thing; I'd still only call the movie 'okay' and not say I really liked it, but it was short and enjoyable, so I didn't leave it with a negative opinion.

The only character I actually found really funny was Chevy Chase's Ty Webb. I'm not sure what it was about Ty, but he had so many unexpected lines. Maybe it's thanks to Chase, who makes lines like "It's really...awful" (when Ty's visiting Spackler's place) hilarious. Same with "Thank you very little," "We have a pool and a pond...pond'd be good for you," and all his lines as he's seducing Lacey ("What brings you to this nape of the woods...neck of the wape...how come you're here?"). Chase has this sort of suave demeanor in the role that makes him really funny, and I loved the stuff he was saying as he massaged Lacey. Lines like "you have very, very small breasts" are really funny because on the one hand, it's an outrageous thing to say to someone, but you can tell he's obviously kidding, and it's charming. Ty was the character I felt like I'd actually enjoy in real life.

Overall, as I said, this movie was inoffensive, entertaining enough without being a great comedy in my eyes. Still, there was at least one great character and some decent jokes in it, so I'm happy enough.