The Man With Two Brains (1983)
Parental Guidance Recommended for Younger viewers.
| Director: | Carl Reiner |
| Actors: | Steve Martin, David Warner, Kathleen Turner, Sissy Spacek |
Anyone who doesn't think Steve Martin is one of the funniest fellows on the planet should have his head examined. As The Man With Two Brains, madman Martin is just the guy to do it, playing Dr Michael Hfuhruhurr, famed originator of zip-lock, screw-top brain surgery. The good doctor pines for his late wife - but slinky siren Delores Benedict (Kathleen Turner) sashays into his life and changes all that. They're soon married, but the truth quickly emerges: Delores' beauty hides a calculating heart of stone. The situation is hopeless - until another brain specialist's oddball research offers a bizarre ray of hope. Anyone with half a brain will rejoice in the sheer lunacy of this sublimely silly farce, directed and co-written by frequent Martin collaborator Carl Reiner (The Jerk, All of Me).
The Man With Two Brains
by Jess Lomas, 20/12/2012 12:33:00 PM
Some comedies age like a fine wine and are enjoyed decades later. Then there’s The Man With Two Brains, the 1983 Carl Reiner comedy starring Steve Martin and Kathleen Turner that is so unevenly funny it eventually becomes boring. This is probably sacrilegious to Martin fans, with this picture often ranking among his best, but when compared to Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Parenthood, or The Jerk, The Man With Two Brains only succeeds because of Martin’s performance. The screenplay is undeniably weak, co-written by Martin, Reiner and George Gipe; the trio more successfully collaborated on Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid the previous year. Martin plays the world’s best brain surgeon, Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr, who isn’t shy about tooting his own horn after inventing a screw-top method to perform b...
Some comedies age like a fine wine and are enjoyed decades later. Then there’s The Man With Two Brains, the 1983 Carl Reiner comedy starring Steve Martin and Kathleen Turner that is so unevenly funny it eventually becomes boring. This is probably sacrilegious to Martin fans, with this picture often ranking among his best, but when compared to Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Parenthood, or The Jerk, The Man With Two Brains only succeeds because of Martin’s performance. The screenplay is undeniably weak, co-written by Martin, Reiner and George Gipe; the trio more successfully collaborated on Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid the previous year.
Martin plays the world’s best brain surgeon, Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr, who isn’t shy about tooting his own horn after inventing a screw-top method to perform brain surgery. He mourns the death of his wife Rebecca until he accidentally runs over bombshell Dolores Benedict (Turner). After pitching woo by her hospital bedside, they marry, despite the spirit of Rebecca warning him in one of the film’s truly hilarious moments.
Dolores is a gold-digger that moves from one unfortunate sap to the next, and refuses to consummate her marriage with Hfuhruhurr. When he takes Dolores on a belated honeymoon to Austria for a work conference, she embarks on an affair while he meets Dr. Necessiter (David Warner), a fellow brain surgeon with a revolutionary experiment underway. There, Hfuhruhurr falls in love with Anne Uumellmahaye (the voice of Sissy Spacek); only problem is she’s just a brain in a jar and he needs to find her a body before she deteriorates entirely.
While there are plenty of funny gags – the continual “Get that cat out of here” while Martin is in surgery; the erection joke that results from Dolores’ withholding of sex - one’s enjoyment may directly correlate to their level of knowledge of cult science fiction flicks. The plot feels undercooked and the humour dependent on underdeveloped characters, like Turner’s vixen. She wears out her range and her stay half an hour in. Even Martin, who on the whole is polished, doesn’t have his usual spark that’s so enjoyable to watch.
2.5/5
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