Thursday, December 28, 2017

King Sunny Saves the Day

The latest film quiz had a question about O.C. and Stiggs (1985), and we hadn’t seen it yet. Now we have, but we’re still not sure about it. The easiest explanation is that it is an 80s teen comedy directed by Robert Altman.

O.C. And Stiggs are two high school boys who are dedicating their summer to annoying their Phoenix neighbors. They break into his yard when he (Paul Dooley) gathers his family around the TV to watch the commercial for his insurance company. They call up the president of Gabon to rack up his phone bill, and because they like his name, President Bongo. They then precede to tell him the story of their summer.

They start by building the ugliest, most annoying monster truck they can devise. Then they crash a wedding - the daughter of their enemy, the insurance guy, is marrying an Asian stereotype, Victor Ho. There, Stiggs meets and begins to woo bookish Cynthia Nixon (whose boyfriend is insurance guy’s son, Jon Cryer - so maybe this is part of the plan?). They also float down to Mexico to see a King Sunny Ade concert, and invite him back to Phoenix, and...

There is a lot of other stuff, most of it random. Some of it is funny, but the fatal flaw is probably that the two kids are so obnoxious that it’s hard to root for them. They are loud, rude, future frat jerks. At least they love King Sunny.

I’ve left out a bunch of great bits, like:
  • Jane Curtin as insurance guys drunk wife
  • Ray Walston as O.C.’s Gramps, full of inappropriate stories
  • Dennis Hopper as a Vietnam vet, who grows pot and supplies the kids with weapons and air support
  • Martin Mull as the swinging next door neighbor with the tiki themed backyard
There’s a lot of Altman onscreen - sometimes Stiggs even sounds a little like Donald Sutherland from MASH - mostly in his cadences. Altman’s story is that this was supposed to be a parody of a stupid teen comedy, not but I’m not sure I see it.

In conclusion, at least King Sunny got a payday.

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