DR DETROIT

US, 1983, 91 minutes, Colour.
Dan Aykroyd, Howard Hesseman, Donna Dixon, T.K. Carter, Fran Drescher.
Directed by Michael Pressman.

Dr Detroit is a short running time comedy vehicle for Dan Aykroyd. Aykroyd, from Saturday Night Live on American television, was teamed with John Belushi in such films as 1941, Neighbours and The Blues Brothers.

After Belushi's death, Aykroyd wrote and acted in a number of comedy vehicles including Trading Places.

Aykroyd is quite good in comic turns in this film - imitating, amongst others, Harold Lloyd and Jerry Lewis. He is the naive and innocent college professor, mistakenly identified as a gangster by Detroit, he begins to live the role and become the Protector of a group of prostitutes against vicious pimps (echoes of Henry Winkler and Michael Nightshift). Many critics found the film laugh-less. While the situations are corny and sometimes exaggerated, the whole film is silly but, despite oneself, there are a number of laughs - even to the send-up of Star Trek, The Wrath of Khan Probably more suited to a telemovie.