Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Robert J. Maxwell Well, "Airplane" was released in 1980 and proved a cash cow so it was inevitable that sequels, imitations, and rip offs should follow. The duo responsible for the first, Zucker and Abrahams, did it best. They imitated themselves with relish and with skill. "Johnny Dangerously" is amusing too but not quite in the same vein as the others. In high school English class I was always puzzled by the distinction between parody, satire, and farce. With little help from the teacher, Ms. Olive Rapp, I decided that a parody consisted of gently making fun of something, that a satire involved edgier ridicule, and that a farce was a fast comedy in which people fell over things like furniture.This is a satire of 1930s gangster movies that sometimes elbows its way uncertainly into farce territory. For the most part, the laughs lie in the often witty dialog. And there ARE laughs. Many of them come from Richard Dimitri's character of Roman Troy Moronie, a caricature of a mustachioed foul-mouth Italian rival of the Kelly gang. He's always overwrought, teeth bared with rage, his eyes blacked out like the villain's in a Charlie Chaplin short. He reads a statement to the congressional committee investigating him: Something like, "Ladies and Gentlemen. You cork-sacking foragging faggots ain't got no right to take a man's freedom." He gets deported to Sweden.The plot follows the usual formula of the gangster movie. Michael Keaton is one of the Kelly brothers. Their "Ma", Maureen Stapleton) is always suffering from some increasingly expensive illness or other that doesn't stop her from plodding on with her laundry in order to support her two boys now that their Dad is gone. (A photo of Dad hangs in the kitchen; he's in a striped prison suit and strapped in an electric chair.) Keaton changes his last name to Dangerously so that Ma and his younger brother don't know about his sensational career in crime. He even puts his brother through law school and when he becomes D.A. the clash is inevitable.Keaton does all right as Johnny Dangerously but is perhaps outdone, or at least outwritten, by some of the supporting players. Some of the sight gags are dated and a few are sloppy but the film is redeemed by the dialog, which can get pretty funny, funner than a similar satire (or is it a parody) in "Movie, Movie."

classicsoncall Michael Keaton was in a bunch of funny flicks in the Eighties and this is one of them. I go for the parody stuff with quick quips and humorous sight gags, and as a fan of gangster films, this one clicked in more ways than one. I probably got the biggest kick out of actor Richard Dimitri doing the Roman Moronie bit with all the fractured malapropisms - "You fargin sneaky bastige!" Works for me every time.So just as I was thinking that Keaton was giving it the old Jimmy Cagney swagger, news comes that D.A. brother Tommy (Griffin Dunne) and the governor plan on attending the latest Cagney release. I was anxious and hopeful that we'd get to see which one it was, and we do, although the timing of it wouldn't have worked for this movie. "The Roaring Twenties" came out in 1939, and the setting for this one was 1935 when Johnny (Keaton) relates his life story to the pet shop kid. Priscilla Lane's name was in the theater marquee along with Cagney's, so that made sense because she was second billed, but it would have been neat if Bogart's name appeared there too.There's a lot of great back-up given the principals here; Maureen Stapleton is a sketch as Ma Kelly, while Peter Boyle and Joe Piscopo always entertain. I got a kick out of the family doctor (Carl Gottlieb) ratcheting up his bill for medical services performed on Ma as Johnny's fame and reputation grew as a mobster. The blocked salivary gland was a neat malady for $7500, I hope Ma was able to spit again.Anyway, you'll have to catch this one to see the New York Yankees of Crime do their stuff, and Marilu Henner do her's. There's probably not a vermin here you won't like, and with any luck, it may keep you out of a life of crime.

trevuar There are a lot great silly spoof movies out there. Johnny Dangerously isn't one of them. With names like Danny Devito, Weird Al, and Michael Keaton, I was expecting to at least laugh a few times but I found myself cringing more than anything. The jokes aren't over the top enough and the worst "jokes" repeat themselves to make the experience even worse. I find myself confused on the tone of this movie as parts of it seemed aimed towards adults and other parts exclusively for children under 10. If you think bad accents, cartoon like physics, and repeated jokes for 10 year olds are hilarious, then Johnny Dangerously is for you.

mattressman_pdl As far as parody films go, there are few that are worth time and energy. but with a recent resurgence of horrid parodies such as Date Movie and The Comebacks, it is a breath of fresh air to come back and rediscover a truly funny farce like Johnny Dangerously.After his mother has no end of medical problems, little Johnny goes to work for the mob. What fallows is a series of gags, most of which work, there are, however, the occasional flops. But a foreign gangster who can't master the American language (profanity wise, at least), a rival gangster with a penchant for shooting his mouth off (...once!), a younger brother with the D.A. who is out to get Johhny Dangerously, and a hot young starlet hot for his affections have Johnny busy.And the viewer will be busy laughing, for the most part, as every gangster-movie cliché is skewered by a talented cast and decent writing.Not perfect by a long shot, but definitely good for a smile on a bad day.