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Johnny Dangerously
Fox // PG-13 // August 27, 2002
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Following the success of 1980's "Airplane!", studios were scrambling to create films that spoofed speicific movies and entire genres. The result was a mixed bag of hit or miss comedies that failed to capture the spirit of "Airplane!" or the talent of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team. The gangster spoof "Johnny Dangerously" was spawned by this comedic copy-cat rat race, and while it may not be in the same leauge as "Airplane!" or "The Naked Gun", it features a great performance by Micheal Keaton and some good laughs.
The Movie
"Johnny Dangerously" spoofs the prohibition-era gangster films of the 1930s and 40s, most notably those of James Cagney. The film tells the story of the Kelly family, who live on the lower east side of Manhattan during the 1910's. Ma Kelly (Maureen Stapleton), Johnny (Michael Keaton), and Tommy (Griffin Dunne), struggle daily to make ends meets. When Ma needs surgery on her pancreas, Johnny turns to a life of crime with local mobster Jocko Dundee (Peter Boyle).
As the story moves forward to the 1930's,Johnny gets a bit older and joins the Dundee gang full-time, using the alias Johnny Dangerously. Ma and Tommy believe that Johnny is a legitimate nightclub owner, as opposed to a notorious gangster. All is well for Johnny and his new girlfriend Lil (Marilu Henner), until Tommy joins the D.A.'s office and begins a war on crime. Now, Johnny must decide if he wants to continue he nefarious ways or come clean with his family.
As with most films of this nature, the plot of "Johnny Dangerously" is very straightforward and could have come from an actual gangster film. The comedy springs from the bizarre situations which occur throughout the film. For example, the arch nemesis of the Dundee gang is a crook named Roman Moronie (Richard Dimitri), a man who has an incredibly thick accent and is constantly spouting words such as "icehole" and "corksucker", which may or may not be profanity. Ma Kelly is presented as the stereotypical Irish mother, but she has quite a mouth on her as well. Of course, the film is also loaded with many non-sequitirs and double entendres as well.
Typical of the genre, "Johnny Dangerously" tries way to hard and fills every scene with as many jokes as possible, and there are some stretches of the film which aren't funny at all. (And, some jokes, such as one referring to a Shlitz Malt Liquor advertisement, are dated.) The weakest part of the film is Joe Piscopo's Danny Vermin character. This is basically a one joke character, and that one joke, which is repeated throughout the film, isn't funny. Aside from these flaws, director Amy Heckerlin ("Fast Times at Ridgemont High", "Look Who's Talking", "Clueless") keeps things moving along quite well.
It's Michael Keaton's performance that make "Johnny Dangerously" work. Here, Keaton displays the loose charm that made him a movie star, and it's this presence that makes Johnny such a likable character. Peter Boyle is also very good as the noble Dundee. Griffin Dunne and Maureen Stapleton provide great support, in their small, but funny roles.
"Johnny Dangerously" is a great guilty pleasure film. It's far from perfect, but it's funny and isn't that what's important?
Picture
On this DVD, "Johnny Dangerously" has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear for the most part, but it is also dull and flat, showing little depth. The colors are OK and there are no overt defects from the source print. There is a small amount of grain on the image and a few problems with artifacting in some scenes. Overall, this is an acceptable transfer.
Sound
This DVD contains a Dolby digital stereo audio track which provides clear dialogue and nice music reproduction. However, the sound is not well-balanced, and the volume fluctuates. Also, there is very little in the way of stereo seperation. The flaws here do not really interfere with the viewing of the film.
Extras
The only true extra on this DVD is the theatrical trailer for "Johnny Dangerously", which has been letterboxed at 1.85:1. There are also bonus trailers for seven other Fox films.
Does "Johnny Dangerously" do a good job of spoofing gangster films? Having not seen many, I really can't answer that. But, I can say that it's a fun comedy and Michael Keaton is great in it.
The Movie
"Johnny Dangerously" spoofs the prohibition-era gangster films of the 1930s and 40s, most notably those of James Cagney. The film tells the story of the Kelly family, who live on the lower east side of Manhattan during the 1910's. Ma Kelly (Maureen Stapleton), Johnny (Michael Keaton), and Tommy (Griffin Dunne), struggle daily to make ends meets. When Ma needs surgery on her pancreas, Johnny turns to a life of crime with local mobster Jocko Dundee (Peter Boyle).
As the story moves forward to the 1930's,Johnny gets a bit older and joins the Dundee gang full-time, using the alias Johnny Dangerously. Ma and Tommy believe that Johnny is a legitimate nightclub owner, as opposed to a notorious gangster. All is well for Johnny and his new girlfriend Lil (Marilu Henner), until Tommy joins the D.A.'s office and begins a war on crime. Now, Johnny must decide if he wants to continue he nefarious ways or come clean with his family.
As with most films of this nature, the plot of "Johnny Dangerously" is very straightforward and could have come from an actual gangster film. The comedy springs from the bizarre situations which occur throughout the film. For example, the arch nemesis of the Dundee gang is a crook named Roman Moronie (Richard Dimitri), a man who has an incredibly thick accent and is constantly spouting words such as "icehole" and "corksucker", which may or may not be profanity. Ma Kelly is presented as the stereotypical Irish mother, but she has quite a mouth on her as well. Of course, the film is also loaded with many non-sequitirs and double entendres as well.
Typical of the genre, "Johnny Dangerously" tries way to hard and fills every scene with as many jokes as possible, and there are some stretches of the film which aren't funny at all. (And, some jokes, such as one referring to a Shlitz Malt Liquor advertisement, are dated.) The weakest part of the film is Joe Piscopo's Danny Vermin character. This is basically a one joke character, and that one joke, which is repeated throughout the film, isn't funny. Aside from these flaws, director Amy Heckerlin ("Fast Times at Ridgemont High", "Look Who's Talking", "Clueless") keeps things moving along quite well.
It's Michael Keaton's performance that make "Johnny Dangerously" work. Here, Keaton displays the loose charm that made him a movie star, and it's this presence that makes Johnny such a likable character. Peter Boyle is also very good as the noble Dundee. Griffin Dunne and Maureen Stapleton provide great support, in their small, but funny roles.
"Johnny Dangerously" is a great guilty pleasure film. It's far from perfect, but it's funny and isn't that what's important?
Picture
On this DVD, "Johnny Dangerously" has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear for the most part, but it is also dull and flat, showing little depth. The colors are OK and there are no overt defects from the source print. There is a small amount of grain on the image and a few problems with artifacting in some scenes. Overall, this is an acceptable transfer.
Sound
This DVD contains a Dolby digital stereo audio track which provides clear dialogue and nice music reproduction. However, the sound is not well-balanced, and the volume fluctuates. Also, there is very little in the way of stereo seperation. The flaws here do not really interfere with the viewing of the film.
Extras
The only true extra on this DVD is the theatrical trailer for "Johnny Dangerously", which has been letterboxed at 1.85:1. There are also bonus trailers for seven other Fox films.
Does "Johnny Dangerously" do a good job of spoofing gangster films? Having not seen many, I really can't answer that. But, I can say that it's a fun comedy and Michael Keaton is great in it.
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