Tom Hanks. What comes to mind when someone mentions his name to you? It used to be Bachelor Party or Splash. Now we think of Angels & Demons, DaVinci Code, Castaway, Forest Gump. But he made a few hokey movies that are still near & dear to my funny bone...case in point "The 'Burbs"
It's a joke of a movie about a bunch of neighbors who live in a suburb on a cul de sac that seems like any other in America. It seems like the older man version of Desperate Housewives the way they gossip about their neighbors, get into each others lives & eventually get into big trouble.
It seems like the new neighbors are not playing the accepted version of "house" & so they are thought of as weird, eccentric & even dangerously sinister. Ray Peterson ( played by a comedic version of Hanks) is on vacation from work & gets sucked into the conspiracy theories about the elusive people next door. As always when people make assumptions, trouble follows! So they watch, they theorize, they even try to flush them out into the open with veiled threats.
I've never seen that. I've never seen anybody drive their garbage down to the street & then beat the hell out of it with a stick. I've never seen that.
It's a funny spoof on a "who-done-it" horror film. Hanks delivers his straight man gone rouge routine very well. I had an enjoyable laugh & it reminded me that an actor of Hanks' quality doesn't have to always go for the Oscar winning performance to be enjoyable & entertaining. Plus Corey Feldman is hilarious as the joke of a neighbor kid! What a meatball.
The 'Burbs
Directed By : Joe Dante
Written By: Dana Olsen
Opened : February 17, 1989
Cast
Tom Hanks - Ray Peterson
Bruce Dern - Mark Rumsfield
Carrie Fischer - Carol Peterson
Rick Ducommun - Art Weingartner
Corey Feldman - Ricky Butler
Viewed on : 01/09/10 on HBO
Recommendation: It's a funny funny dark comedy. I have watched it repeatedly since I was a kid so I recommend it to anyone that wants to laugh.
One of my favorites! You quoted my favorite line from the movie. "I've never seen that. I've never seen anybody drive their garbage down to the street & then beat the hell out of it with a stick. I've never seen that". I'm sure Tom does not consider it one of his best, but it has a special place in my heart.
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