Review of The Blues Brothers (1980) by Daniel M — 20 Dec 2010

Watched again the other night, having remembered my only recollection of this film was at a sleep over at a friends house when I was about 10 or 11, I remember falling asleep half way through. I can now see why, at 10 I really didn't have the attention span for this kind of film, its a slow mover and a heck of a long one for a comedy.

I can see why it has such a following (the one liners, the car crashes, the music) however I don't feel all the sentiment, the comedy either works on you or it doesn't. I like some of moments of bare lack of interest next to extreme OTT events, but only a few really hit the mark.

Like 1941 this is a comedy of extravagance and a lot of dicking around. I did however love the cameos by the likes of Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker especially. There are some great riffs and social motifs plastered throughout the film and both Belucci and Aykroyd are great, I especially love the gig at Bob's Country Bunker.

Of course the highlights are seeing literally hundreds of cars crashing and the car chase in the mall was spectacularly devastating. Its quite mindless really and hits you at a base level of comedy. As far as something to sit back and enjoy for another viewing, I wouldn't turn straight to this for laughs.

I can seen exactly why anyone could love or hate this movie so I'm naturally going to stand in the middle.