Channel Awesome
A title I wish this movie lived up to. The Nostalgia Critic reviews Drop Dead Fred.
Tagged with: 1991 channel awesome doug walker drop dead fred movies nostalgia critic
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Is it me, or would this have been a lot better as an anime film by Madhouse?
RIP Rik Mayall
Agree this is a terrible movie
Don’t blame him she imagined him
Chris Tucker is not annoying he is funny
I like Jar Jar
Great music you haw chosen i like it
She looked better with longer hair
13:09 – so that’s a yes?
I don’t know but…this movie was a good idea. I mean, just read the premise: a grown woman finds her old imaginary friend and realizes she can’t get rid of him, being forced to cope with her subconscious manifesting as someone she thought her mother helped her get rid of.
Tell me that with the right cast, director and writers, this couldn’t be a good light comedy? Maybe something even deep.
Hey I know NC says he likes to hear from people who like movies that he’s critiqued as bad as here I am.
A little background, my parents divorced when I was 5 and I lived with my somewhat overprotective mum. I remember watching this in my pre-teen years and relating so hate with the film, I kinda envied the fact I wasn’t crazy enough to have an imaginary to pour my heart to since I didn’t really understand what was happening or why or even how I should respond to it, so I carried on like ‘normal’.
The end scene, though looking back crappily done with a poor stage setup and CGI actually felt a powerful mark on me. And it was to love me for me, that despite the fact I had no control on the events happening around me I did have control over my actions and my happiness.
As for the humor … yeah some of it was hit and miss, though to be fair I read The Beano and The Bash Street Kids and I watch a fair few 15 and 18 rated movies before I should’ve so I knew some things are ‘socially’ funny but its wasn’t the pull of the movie for me. (mum believed it was more damaging to shelter me from culturally differences and perspectives of the world than to view them in their full unashamed and blunt glory, thought I wasn’t allowed to swear, smoke, drink and had to be home before it got dark. Go figure)
I would like to see this concept done again and better, it helped me when I was little despite its flaws. So a well made movie on the same theme could do wonders for kids going through the same thing.
holy shit i love this movie
Might have been a better movie if they’d stuck to it being some kind of psychosis. We have a woman who is suffering from an illness and everyone in her life either refuses to actually help her or just doesn’t know what to do.
I get that NC didn’t like this film, but the reasons behind it seem vague. No discussion of what is clearly the theme of the film: that imaginary friends aren’t always ‘imaginary’ and can actually be good for us. Fred comes back right when Elizabeth needs him, to help her snap out of her warped mental state after losing pretty much everything she holds dear in one day. Once she’s able to move on, guess what? He is able to leave her and go and help another child prepare for the world. Bear in mind that nothing Fred and young Elizabeth do is actually harmful, more along the lines of childhood rebellion in a household that is obviously dominated by a horrendous mother. It’s also worth noting that the most destructive ‘pranks’ by Fred occur when Elizabeth is an adult – these are things that adults cannot get away with. Fred is not something she needs her whole life, just for a short time to confront her fear and move on with her life.
I think it’s often the case however that Americans are baffled by British humour, with the reverse often not the case for some reason. Rik Mayall was (RIP) an incredibly funny comic talent and physical comedy was one aspect of it. Ultimately though this is a ‘black comedy’ and stays like that all the way through. I get that some don’t like it, but that doesn’t make it a bad film, no matter how many silly cameos you get to mug at the camera and say it’s shit. It’s not, and is quite a well-liked film by a lot of people.
It could be read as a film about mental illness, but only in a metaphorical sense – it’s quite clear that other imaginary friends exist and that they could interact, implying that there are at least other levels of consciousness out there. The final proof is the fact that ANOTHER LITTLE GIRL GETS FRED! So reading this as just a story about psychosis is simply incorrect.
Where was Vyvyan when we needed him?