MODERN PROBLEMS
US, 1981, 89 minutes, Colour.
Chevy Chase, Patty D’ Arbanville, Dabney Coleman, Mary Kay Place, Nell Carter, Brian Doyle- Murray.
Directed by Ken Shapiro.
Modern Problems may have been successful in its day, 1981, gathering some of the humorous trends of the 1970s – the kind of thing that the writer-director, Ken Shapiro, did in his 1975 film The Groove Tube, a collection of comic television items.
Chevy Chase was popular at this time, especially after his appearance with Goldie Hawn in Foul Play. Here he is an air traffic controller, divorced from Mary Kay Place, his present partner, Patty D’ Arbanville leaving him, and he particularly oversensitive. On his way home from a book launch at a gay club, he is covered in nuclear waste becomes radioactive with a telekinetic power.
What might have seemed funny on paper is not so funny in reality, in fact rather mean, as our hero causes upset to his girlfriend’s companion in a restaurant, then wreaks havoc at a ballet, then uses his power to humiliate a particularly obnoxious self-help guru, Dabney Coleman. He just seems mean-minded.
Something of a comic time capsule from the 1980s.
1. The title? Problems of 1981, the aftermath of the 1970s? What problems? The workplace, marriage, divorce, relationships, self-help?
2. The humour in 1981 – in later decades?
3. The locations, flight control and the bizarre lack of control, streets, apartments, restaurants, the gay club, the book launch, the beach house looking like the Bates Motel, the shore? Americana? The musical score?
4. Max’s story, at work, the jokes, his relationship with Darcy, taking it for granted, her breaking with him, his sensitivities and lack of sensitivity? Pleading with Darcy? Relying on Lorraine, his ex-wife, memories of the past?
5. The encounter with Jeff, the past, Jeff in Vietnam, disability, in the chair? Attracted to Lorraine? His publishing Mark’s book? The invitation to the launch?
6. Going to the book launch, passing through the gay club, upstairs, Jeff and Lorraine hitting it off, Darcy and Barry arriving?, Dominating? Max wanting to leave, driving home, the encounter with the nuclear waste, his being covered, radioactive at home, the ability to move things?
7. The portrait of Mark, self-centred, arrogant? At the holiday house, demanding the room?
8. Jeff and Lorraine, their exuberance?
9. Darcy, going out with Barry, his theatrical work? Good friends? The launch, then the restaurant?
10. The radioactivity, the moving of the film into fantasy, Barry and his nose bleed, the blood spurting, Max going to the ballet, the dancer and his accidents, returning to the stage? Reaction for Darcy and Barry? Making Mark levitate at the dinner?
11. Mark, self-satisfaction, naked and arrogant, his being humiliated by Max? His offer of help, then the levitation around the room?
12. Dorita, helping Jeff, her room, the voodoo background?
13. Max, the nastiness of his behaviour, the meanness of the way he used his kinetic powers? Audiences and the reaction to him, liking him or not?
14. Happy ending?
