Review of MadHouse (1990) by Vince K — 20 Oct 2009

Madhouse is a wacky, screwball comedy that came out after the death of the '80s but still retains the spirit of that decade. It even has one of those cartoon opening titles sequences like Mannequin and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Kirstie Alley (who was a big star on Cheers at the time) and John Larroquette (big star on Night Court at the time) play a yuppie couple who has just bought a nice new house in Santa Barbara and are living the dream until relatives come to visit.

First it's Larroquette's cousin, whose wife is the most annoying bitch ever, then it's Alley's sister, a gold digger who has been kicked out by her rich Arab husband, who she calls a towelhead and sand nigger.

Things are only mildly annoying at first, but escalate in absolute madness as the sister's drug czar teenage son moves in and the neighbor and his 2 hellion kids have to move in after Alley and Larroquette accidentally burn down their house.

The things they do to the couple and their house are hilariously outrageous, and they're even forced to live in a tent eventually in the back yard with a Port-A-Potty. You wait a long time for the couple to stand up for themselves, fight back, reclaim their house and get their revenge, but don't worry, it's coming, in an awesome climax that will have you cheering.

This is one of the last skinny Kirstie Alley films (this and Sibling Rivalry which came out a year later), and she looks sexy and beautiful in this. She even does a striptease and her stomach looks totally flat.

She gained 200 pounds after promptly devouring the entire cast (really, has anyone seen or heard from these people in 20 years?), and eating everyone on Cheers and replacing them with pod people. John Larroquette dyed his hair dark for this (remember how white it was on Night Court?), and Dennis Miller shows up with that great mullet he rocked for years back then (you know, when everyone liked him).

This is probably the best "Houseguests From Hell" movie, but they should remake it into a black comedy where the houseguests are slaughtered at the end.