Review of The Blues Brothers (1980) by Warren W — 10 Dec 2013

Films based on Saturday Night Live sketches have gained a bit of a nasty reputation for being some of the most insulting and terrible comedy movies of all time. Luckily, that doesn't apply to the Blues Brothers, easily one of my favorite films and one of the best comedies I've seen. It's humor still holds up today, the music is amazingly catchy, and the actors all do a great job creating three dimensional characters from basically nothing.

Based of the musical sketches from the 1970's seasons of Saturday Night Live, the Blues Brothers stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and Jake and Elwood Blues, two brothers who head a blues band called the Blues Brothers's Show Band and Revue. The film begins with Jake Blues being released on parole for an unknown felony, and after a visit to their childhood orphanage, set out on a mission to raise $5,000 to save the orphanage from being sold. Hi-jinks ensue involving Illinois nazis, a pissed off country band, and the entire Chicago police force.

To some degree, I find it interesting that they decided that for the first Saturday Night Live film, they'd choose the Blues Brothers, mainly because unlike future SNL films, the sketches were entirely musical. Sure, there were physical stunts and dancing, but no actual verbal comedy. So I find it quite impressive how much they did with two characters who, for the most part, had no developed character. I liked how they portrayed the dynamic between Jake and Elwood: They fight and disagree yes, but they're still brothers and hold each others' best interests in mind, even if that means doing the less honest act. The supporting cast is also pretty awesome, though they don't have too much to do. John Candy plays a pretty funny part as a detective pursuing the Blues Brothers, and Aretha Franklin has a small bit as the sassy wife of the band's guitarist. There are a lot of stunts and effects in this film, and all are well done and still look great to this day. So much has already been said about the car chase scenes that I can't elaborate much more on them, but I will say that they're a lot of fun, even though there are a lot of them. The music, however, takes the cake as the best part of the film. There are a lot of great performances from not just the Blues Brothers, but Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway (whose performance is infectiously fun and amazing), and many others. The whole film is a love letter to the leaders of R&B and blues music, and it's really what makes this film.

If you haven't seen this film yet, you really need to. I recommend this to anyone, but especially fans of blues music, good comedies, and of course SNL fans. This remains not just one of my favorite comedies, but one of my favorite films, and will definitely watch it again in the near future.