Okay, I just found a rival comedy to add to the list of tasteless films that couldn't succeed as black comedy if they covered it in cork. In late 1980s, "Meet the Applegates", "Parents" and "Nothing But Trouble" came out to hideously bad reviews and zero box office, and I was probably one of 100 people at the video store that I worked at to sit down and watch them. Over 30 years later, I've found one equally as bad, even though I had to pray for immediate forgiveness by laughing by accident in a few spots. When you speak funny lines, the way they are acted out will either get a laugh or groan, and the way Joe Alaskey as the intended victim of a cannibalistic family speaks his lines turned me instantly bulimic. Now that I think about it, the laughs I had came from the physical humor, not the verbal.
After being jilted at the altar, he heads to a ski resort where he ends up in the honeymoon suite and attracts the attention of the beautiful Donna Dixon who decides that he'd be the perfect human turkey for the family Christmas dinner. But do they have an oven big enough to fit him? Yep, this comedy is about the human appetite, written by somebody who had seen the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" too many times. Everybody is directed to overplay as if the director was convinced that they had a classic farce on their hands. The ski resort desk clerk should have been sentenced to hammy acting prison for his extremist line delivery. Leigh McCloskey spoofs his image amusingly, and Dixon is alluring if out of her element as a screwball comedy actress. Certainly no Carole Lombard award for Mrs Dan Aykroyd here. Fran Ryan is amusing as the matriarch, but then again, she always made dreck more palatable. I wish I could say the same about the Christmas dinner and I wish I could say the same about this film. The idea of Alaskey's annoying chestnuts turned me into the Grinch right off.
After being jilted at the altar, he heads to a ski resort where he ends up in the honeymoon suite and attracts the attention of the beautiful Donna Dixon who decides that he'd be the perfect human turkey for the family Christmas dinner. But do they have an oven big enough to fit him? Yep, this comedy is about the human appetite, written by somebody who had seen the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" too many times. Everybody is directed to overplay as if the director was convinced that they had a classic farce on their hands. The ski resort desk clerk should have been sentenced to hammy acting prison for his extremist line delivery. Leigh McCloskey spoofs his image amusingly, and Dixon is alluring if out of her element as a screwball comedy actress. Certainly no Carole Lombard award for Mrs Dan Aykroyd here. Fran Ryan is amusing as the matriarch, but then again, she always made dreck more palatable. I wish I could say the same about the Christmas dinner and I wish I could say the same about this film. The idea of Alaskey's annoying chestnuts turned me into the Grinch right off.