Up the Creek (1984)

Such a frustrating disappointment

So much average

Did you people see the same film I saw?

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Up the Creek (1984) ** (out of 4)Tim Matheson, Dan Monahan, Stephen Furst and Sandy Helberg are the four dumbest students at an overly dumb college. One day the four are brought together by the Dean and offered free Majors if they compete in a white water rafting contest and win it. Soon the four rejects are doing battle against a bunch of preps.Some people say that the films from the 80s are some of the rudest and dumbest of any decade in history. With horror films you had mindless slashers and with comedies the teen sex sub-genre was one of the biggest. Both genres seemed to have new films coming out weekly and if you're a fan of those genres then you know there are some great titles as well as some really bad ones. UP THE CREEK was rather smart as it got cast members from both NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE and PORKY'S and brought them together.So, if the film a winner? I'd say no. I'm not sure what it is but to me this is one of the unfunniest comedies to come out of the teen sex genre. I'm not going to say this is an awful movie because it's slightly entertaining but I've always been shocked at how it held my attention despite containing very few laughs. Whereas most sex comedies went for outrageous and dirty jokes that's not what UP THE CREEK does. While there is some nudity the majority of the film goes for really stupid laughs with a lot of them aimed at a military school who are constantly trying to destroy things.None of that stuff is overly funny and the film really drags in spots. Again, the lack of any real laughs really hurts things. The casting of the four dummies is quite good, although all of them are playing the type of roles you'd expect. Matheson is the good looking guy constantly looking out for women. This of course is the same role he did in ANIMAL HOUSE. Furst, also from that film, basically does nothing but eat. Monahan plays a horny guy and Helberg is the alcoholic. We also get Jennifer Runyon who of course is easy on the eyes.UP THE CREEK at least gets a rather catchy tune from Cheap Trick but outside of this there's really not too much going for the film.

This movie is silly and campy and total '80s, but it's very entertaining and the soundtrack is completely amazing, featuring artists like Cheap Trick, Beach Boys and Ian Hunter among others. Like most campy '80s movies, this plot is predictable and the outcome is typical, but it's fun to watch the adventures of Bob McGraw and the gang. Tim Matheson plays a similar role to his Eric Straton character from Animal House. Ironically (and completely on purpose) the movie Van Wilder, featuring Ryan Reynolds, casts Tim Matheson as Van's uptight father. The irony is that Van Wilder is very similar to Bob McGraw from 20 years earlier. In Van Wilder, however, Matheson plays the exact opposite character.

Salacious white water raft race. Actually, it's a watered-down toga party. (Pun intended) Tim Matherson's presence is highly suspect. Good Fun for the time being. Highlights: the charade sequence near the film's silly denouement. You gonna love the frisky dog. Most imaginative use of explosives in a sophomore movie and most unbelievable bad guy's foul up I have ever seen. Otherwise, keep your brain in a jar and enjoy it. Is anybody ready to start a signature campaign to get this nice doggy err... movie onto DVD? Count me in. Hope MGM ever makes up its mind onto this. Time is running out. Cybercaf'e clock running. gggg

Why would somebody make a comedy movie that's not funny? Maybe they changed directors mid-stream, or there was a death among the principal technicians and someone else had to edit or whatever. But, this movie is just not funny; even though the script keeps telling you how side-splitting it is, and how you're enjoying it more than you did "Animal House" or "Porky's". Even worldly sophisticates like George Plimpton or Wm F. Buckley like slapstick, sophomoric sex jokes and watching drunk frat-boys being jerks as much as the next guy. We keep looking for some in this poorly-done piece of crap and are more disappointed than the first audience that saw "Plan 9 From Outer Space." The worst scene of the film sticks with me, two beautiful girls enter a nightclub full of elligible dudes and no other women (yes, the story is supposed to be about a whitewater-rafting trip!); they looks about feigning sexual hunger and one of them says "Take NO prisoners". Like the rest of this awful film: is that supposed to be funny? Or sexy? You just feel sorry for the actors, technicians and investors while you're miffed at the directors and producers.