Burbs
In 1989, Tom Hanks was nearing the end of his rather distinguished run as a movie comedy actor for the Oscar draped riches of more dramatic pursuits. Coming off having just gotten his first Oscar nomination for Big (pretty much a straight comedy transcended by the passion of Hanksâ acting in it), as the countdown to The Awards themselves began in 1989, that timeframe also saw the release of one of his âlastâ comedies and as it turned out, under the hand of director Joe Dante, this comedy struck many as being a little too dark, sick and twisted for most peopleâs tastes, resulting in many scratching their heads as to why Hanks would star in it and worse, leading to many believing that it cost him the Oscar that year because of the tepid reception that this film received. Of course, the ultimate irony was that Dante had crafted an eerily prescient, bitingly satiric piece (which stood the test of time and became a cult classic) about not only the dark secrets that lay within so called suburbia, but also of the dangers of the wretchedly bored, fatally curious residents there who when quite simply faced with having too much free time on their hands wind up being a danger to those in the neighborhood who prefer to keep to themselves and mind their own business, thus convincing those others that thereâs just GOT to be some kind of deep dark secret lurking within the privacy of their homes and their lives. Danteâs decision to both keep the movie set entirely on the street where all the characters live and to also film it at the famous âneighborhoodâ soundstage at Universal Studios Hollywood where movies and TV shows going all the way back to Leave It To Beaver were filmed there as well proved to be a wise one, establishing well the peaceful familiarity of the location as well as successfully portraying why suburban communities were built in the first place as a sort of sanctuary living environment where things such as crime and heavy traffic do not exist. Hanks stars as Ray Peterson, a guy allegedly taking a one week âvacation at homeâ who often finds that the antics of his fellow neighbors (and getting caught up in them himself) are actually more interesting and stimulating for him than anything that he could watch on TV and the gossip and drama he gets into with his (other male) neighbors soon sets him down a road that he comes to regret. His other cohorts include Bruce Dern (in a criminally underrated comic performance) as Rumsfield, an ex-Vietnam vet still living the âmilitary values lifestyleâ and always coming up with nifty gadgets normally used in the field for their activities while also sporting a gorgeous blonde trophy wife (Wendy Schaal), Rick Ducommun (a longtime comedy character actor getting the only real substantial role of his career here) as Art, a fat slob with a big mouth whose excited patter could annoy anyone even though he is ultimately more of a guy who can talk a big game but usually fails to act upon it mostly due to his fatness but he is also a frighteningly accurate depiction of irritating assholes whom weâve all run into in real life, Corey Feldman (just getting into the toxic wanna be rock star / Michael Jackson phase of his career) as Ricky Butler, a teen who is supposed to be painting his house while his parents are away, but instead becomes a sometimes passive participant in all the going ons, helping the others out occasionally with their little schemes but usually preferring to watch them from his front porch and even going so far as to invite friends over to watch with him to the point of making a party out of it (again not all that uncommon a habit that people have in real life neighborhoods), and Gale Gordon (best known for a slew of 50s sitcom work) as Walter, a feeble old man whom the Dern character resents for having the nicest lawn on the block while he sends his own dog out to poop on other peopleâs. The object of their incessant spying and curiosity is the new neighbors that have just moved in (known as The Klopeks) and it is precisely their aloof nature and unwillingness to fraternize with the others that have made them a target (and their seemingly being of Eastern European descent which no doubt has raised up Dernâs radar). At first, Hanks tries to nobly stay out of it, having been encouraged to do so by his wife (Carrie Fisher) who refuses to get caught up in the hysteria and insists on letting them have their privacy and staying out of their business (indeed, the most noble stance in the film). But the more that Hanks gets to listening to Ducommunâs motormouth theories about what the family is really, actually doing (which includes murder, cult activity, and Satanism), none of which can be proven of course, and when a series of strange, unexplained occurances happen on the street which may or may not point towards some kind of foul play, Hanks ultimately finds his own rationale in order to join with Ducommun and Dern (who acts as if the whole thing is some kind of a half assed military intelligence operation) to take on the (illegal) pursuit of first harassing the family and then breaking and entering into their home so that they may find some kind of damning evidence and then be crowned as heroes for doing so which belies the fact that they all quite simply have got absolutely nothing better to do with themselves. This type of biting, socially satiric comic material is handled deftly with Dante at the helm, fully exploiting such paranoic notions like âyour neighbors are always watching youâ whenever you step outside of your nice house and how seemingly innocent exchanges and actions on the street can be blown out of proportion in order to fit into someoneâs sordid conspiracy theories. Even when we finally meet the Klopeks in full (played by Henry Gibson, Brother Theodore, and Courtney Gains), they do come across as rather strange and unfriendly, but yet also as being quaint and antiquated in how they live their lives as we must keep in mind that there is no law preventing that sort of thing. What is disturbing about the (exaggerated) events of this film is how this kind of paranoid behavior translates into real life situations and things that you actually see going on in so called âperfectâ communities with people who have nothing better to do except harass other neighbors over the way that they are driving or in the way that their dog is barking or because their lawn isnât being kept well enough to their liking and convince themselves that itâs acceptable behavior on their part when really itâs not, thus putting them only about two or three steps away from the characters in this movie. People should be happy to live in such a nice area and either be sociable or keep to themselves while respecting other peopleâs rights to do the same, but instead prefer always finding something to complain about. The movie plays around a bit with gruesome imagery (particularly a harrowing nightmare that Hanks has) but mostly stays on the straight and narrow always keeping that nugget of a thought in the back of the viewerâs mind that our three main characters could very well be dead wrong in their suspicions and have it all blow up in their faces. In the end, we get a double twist conclusion (which had been changed with the help of reshoots) that would seem to indicate that they were maybe on the right path and somewhat justifies their actions, but that in itself almost makes things even MORE disturbing, as the final message might even be seen as actually condoning such behavior (albeit in a pointed way) so that other nosy neighbors could be encouraged to creep around to find out something forbidden about people whom they really should leave alone unless they have something tangible to present to law enforcement first. But overall, we still have Tom Hanks giving his last real comedy performance in a relaxed, Everyman, matter of fact way, certainly not trying to win an Oscar by any means but instead committing himself completely to the concept in order to bring it to its full, hilariously glorious realization and doing so successfullyâŚ
9/10