Film Dunce is a weekly series in which one of our writers finally succumbs to the lure of a movie that has long been a big part of our culture that they have never seen. Seen through fresh eyes, we evaluate, enjoy and sometimes get bored by these titans of mental real estate.
Today, Bill Murray is lauded as a comedic icon. Like every hip twentysomething, I’ve seen Murray’s sad side in Lost in Translation and Broken Flowers. However, I was lacking a crucial bit of Murray cred in my film repertoire: Caddyshack.
Having helped launch the careers of some of America’s favorite comedians (Murray of course included) Caddyshack is touted as one of America’s funniest films. So it makes me feel like a little bit of a jerk to say I was unpleasantly surprised at how much of Caddyshack’s humor was simple and low brow.
The film begins with Danny (Michael O’Keefe), a caddy at the ritzy Bushwood Country Club. Danny has haphazard aspirations for college, but his high school academics are not much to speak of. His future lies in a potential caddy scholarship, and this fate rests in his ability to suck up to Bushwood’s owner, Judge Smails (Ted Knight). As the rest of the cast makes its way into Bushwood, Caddyshack quickly becomes a film about oddball characters sticking it to the man.
Danny’s plight almost feels like false start, however, as the film quickly spirals out toward Caddyshack’s more interesting characters. Murray carries the film’s famous subplot as Carl Spackler, the golf course’s mentally questionable maintenance man. Rodney Dangerfield plays Al Czervik, a loud, flamboyant visitor wreaking havoc amidst Bushwood’s otherwise uptight guests. Chevy Chase gives a relatively subtle performance as the smooth, affluent Ty Webb. Murray, Chase and Dangerfield all but fight for our attention between Ty’s quirky playboy moves and Al’s elaborate golf accessories. The eccentricities of their characters can be interesting, odd and entertaining, but it’s never clear which ones are important to the film and why. As a result, Caddyshack’s strengths are in its parts, but never at any point does the movie fully come together.
Indeed, Chase, Murray and Dangerfield are responsible for the strongest and most entertaining parts of the movie; however, as the focus caters to their characters, the plot as a whole becomes incredibly unbalanced. These three actors are such strong forces throughout the film, that we eventually forget the original premise. When the plot occasionally does return to Danny, the movie becomes boring. Danny is less our protagonist, and more an uninteresting vehicle to move us along to the next time Dangerfield does something wacky.
Caddyshack is certainly not without its hilarious moments, but at its best, it’s a movie that revels in the irreverent glee that comes with undermining authority. As it happens, most of this glee comes in the form of silly one-liners and dick jokes, and this is where high expectations left me screwed. The nostalgic regard for Caddyshack as The Funniest Movie Ever led me to believe that I would experience a higher form of comedy. Really the film employs the same old humor recycled in later films like American Pie.
It is interesting to go back and see America’s comedic staples in their early years – Chase’s understated Ty Webb is particularly refreshing amidst all of the otherwise over the top gags. Unfortunately, outside the realm of nostalgia Caddyshack proved to be just another juvenile romp.
by Melissa Muenz
