Nothing but Trouble (1991)

Sadly Over-hyped

Great Film overall

Excellent but underrated film

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

One of the worst movies ever made. Utterly incoherent. I'm told every actor involved wants this movie dropped from their C.V.s and I can understand why. Save yourself and don't take that shortcut.

In New York, the arrogant financial publisher Chris Thorne (Chevy Chase) travels in his BMW with his hot neighbor, the lawyer Diane Lightson (Demi Moore), and the inconvenient siblings Fausto Squiriniszu (Taylor Negron) and Renalda Squiriniszu (Bertila Damas) to Atlantic City for a lecture. The siblings asks to sight-see an old mining area and Chris makes a detour in New Jersey to the village of Valkenvania, Chris does not stop the car at a sign and are chased and arrested by officers Dennis Valkenheise (John Candy) and Miss Purdah (Valri Bromfield). They are brought to a bizarre mansion in a junkyard to the presence of Judge Alvin 'J.P' Valkenheise (Dan Aykroyd) that takes their IDs and locks them in a cell to be judged later. Then they are invited to have dinner with the judge and his family. The group tries to flee irritating the judge that imprisons Chris and Diane, while Fausto and Renalda are hunted down by Miss Purdah and Dennis. What will happen to Chris, Diane and the siblings?"Nothing But Trouble" is a bizarre black comedy by Dan Aykroyd that does not work very well despite the cast. The non-sense story is unpleasant and not funny and the unknown Taylor Negron is awful. In addition, the Aykroyd Brothers should have made research before writing bullshit. They would learn that Brazilians speak Portuguese, and not Spanish; the stereotyped typical Brazilian rhythm is "Samba" and not "Mambo" (from Cuba); Christ and Corcovado is the same place and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Nada Além de Problemas" ("Nothing but Trouble")

Have you ever watched a movie that seemed great at the time, but by the eighth or twelfth viewing, it starts looking worse than you thought it was? I love Dan Aykroyd. He was and still is one of my top ten favorite talents to emerge from "Saturday Night Live." However, as far as being able to write, produce, direct and star in a film, he might have bit off more than he could handle. I saw a portion of this movie for the first time around 1995; it was the scene where Chevy Chase is tried before the judge, found guilty on trumped-up charges and sent through the roller coaster from hell to his death. That was it for me. I never knew what happened next for several years. What happened before that? Where did it go from there? I had to know. Some years passed, and I found the movie at the local library. (Yes, libraries actually rent movies, and they do it for free.) It turns out what I missed was Chevy Chase as a successful stock broker meeting Demi Moore, a really hot lawyer, and that's basically where things spring board. It starts out dull and boring and leaves you waiting to get into the plot. Chevy wants to take Demi out for a long drive down the coast to be alone, but in walks the late Taylor Negron from "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" and his girlfriend to horn in on the trip and pretty much get on everyone's last nerve, including the audience. They don't even have a purpose in this movie and are quickly shuffled out twenty minutes later after serving their purpose. After pressuring Chevy to break the law and get them all arrested, they all get dragged up before Dan Aykroyd in very heavy (and I do mean VERY HEAVY) prosthetics in a courthouse in the middle of several acres of junkyard surrounded by a moat. While this fat-suit gimmick worked out great for Eddie Murphy in "The Nutty Professor," Aykroyd uses it to become as gross, obnoxious and unappealing as possible. It's just not funny or really integral to the plot. The house and junkyard with its various "Addams Family" hidden room aspects are more intriguing, but we never see much of it. John Candy plays the judge's nephew, the only normal person in the judge's family, but Candy also gets stuck playing double-duty as his overweight and homely sister in a role that is both disturbing and uncomfortable for Candy. It's supposedly played for laughs, but it's not funny. The rest of the movie is pretty much about Chevy and Demi trying to escape with Chevy getting trapped into a marriage with the homely fat niece and sent through the aforementioned roller coaster to his death. Luckily, it conks out before truly chewing him up. Unfortunately, he's basically sleepwalking through the scenes and phoning in his dialogue without the energy or personality of Clark Griswold. Demi Moore tries playing her role straight, but it is not hard to see she's completely confused and dismayed by the script that isn't very funny and is actually frequently disturbing. It's basically "Deliverance" as a live-action horror cartoon, and it's not really helped by a disconnected musical interlude by a group I'm told calls itself Digital Underground. I'm never heard of them either, but they're the only good thing in this movie even if it gets disturbing to watch two young beautiful ladies rub up against Aykroyd in his fat latex old man costume. If this movie is what we can expect from the unbridled imagination that is Dan Aykroyd, all I can say is Thank-God for Harold Ramis for keeping him restrained enough to create "Ghostbusters."

Successful financial writer Chris Thorne (Chevy Chase) meets emotional lawyer Diane Lightson (Demi Moore). She wants to stop a land developer and he's willing to take her to meet him in Atlantic City. Obnoxious, wealthy Brazilian siblings Fausto and Renalda tag along. Chris gets lost and is arrested by Valkenvania police officer Dennis Valkenheiser (John Candy). He is brought in front of crazy old Judge Reeve Alvin Valkenheiser (Dan Aykroyd) and his weird mansion/courthouse.It's an ugly funhouse of deliberately annoying characters. Dan Aykroyd has nobody to blame but himself. He just goes crazy without anybody willing to tell him that this is disgusting and not funny. I hate most of these characters. If Chevy Chase is nicer, there is a possible rooting interest. However everything is so over-the-top ugly and unlikeable. I almost want to give it a pass for being campy but not every bad movie deserves that pass. Its worst sin of all is that it's not funny.