Mel Brooks, thanks to writing, producing and directing many classics of the genre, is completely deserving of his title of Hollywood’s king of parodies. On the other hand, his attempt to show that his talents include broader or more generic forms of comedy resulted in Life Stinks, 1991 film which is considered as the worst of his career and one of the biggest disappointments in early 1990s Hollywood.
Brooks stars as Goddard Bolt, extremely wealthy, heartless and arrogant tycoon who plans to tear down the poorest of the Los Angeles’ slums and start ambitious construction project. He has already bought half of all property, but the other half have been bought by rival tycoon Vance Crasswell (played by Jeffrey Tambor). Two men agree that the ultimate fate of the project would be settled via bizarre bet – Bolt is to attempt living without his money in the slum, with special electronic anklet to prevent him from leaving the area. If he wins, he would take Crasswell’s half; if he loses, Crasswell takes all. Bolt is confident that he would win, but reality soon clashes with his expectations and he soon learns that he must live without food and shelter. He nevertheless gains new friends, which include Molly (played by Lesley Anne Warren), mentally distrurbed bag lady who used to be dancer on Broadway. Bolt, despite many challenges, seems that he would ultimately win the bet but fate brings him one nasty surprise.
For Brooks this was probably the most personal film in his career. Script, co-written by Rudy De Luca and Steve Haberman, was in many ways inspired by his growing up in impoverished Brooklyn neighbourhood during Great Depression. Life Stinks, although not a clear parody, was also inspired by Hollywood’s 1930s populist comedies that dealt with the issues of poverty and social differences. Brooks also took this film as an opportunity to present his comedy as a way to warn audiences about serious issues of social differences and poverty that, although always present, were being swept under the carpet in Reagan’s America. Unfortunately, Brooks is much more talented as comedian than as social crusader and Life Stinks ends up as too preachy and too simplistic. Even worse is Brooks’ apparent failure to provide comedy, especially damning when this film is compared with John Landis’ Trading Places, which had used similar concept. There are very few laughs and the tone of film is, despite Brooks’ honest efforts, too dark and often strays towards tragedy. Predictable transformation of Bolt from arrogant tycoon into a man who learned his lessons and starts to care about other human beings isn’t handled well and Life Stinks seems rushed despite its short running time. There is a bright spot or two, like the musical number featuring Brooks and Lesley Anne Warren (who, honestly, looks too glamorous to be street derelict), but they don’t prevent this film from turning into complete failure. Like so many bad Hollywood comedies, Life Stinks tries to compensate for the lack of humour with action, including the one in which Brooks’ and Tambor’s character fight using large hydraulic excavators. The end result is lame and it is quite understandable why the film got savaged by critics. Audience was even less enthusiastic, probably because they couldn’t have accepted Brooks’ sometimes over-romanticised depiction of homeless alcoholics as more honest and morally superior to the rest to the society. Film is even less likely to be accepted today in light what goes on the streets of San Francisco and the fate that awaits most Zoomers and future generations if certain global economic trends become permanent.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
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