Caddyshack II
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Caddyshack II is a 1988 sequel to the 1980 classic comedy Caddyshack. The film stars Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Jackie Mason, Robert Stack, Jessica Lundy, Dina Merrill, and Jonathan Silverman. Some of the film's screenplay was written by Harold Ramis (who also wrote the original Caddyshack) and Peter Torokvei and was directed by Allan Arkush.
Plot
Eight years after the first film, Jack Hartounian (Jackie Mason), a boorish but good-hearted real estate tycoon, applies for membership at a snooty country club but is blackballed by the old-money WASPs, led by Chandler Young (Robert Stack). As revenge, he simply buys the club outright and turns it into a garish amusement park. Chandler wants to win the property back by challenging Jack to a golf match, but he hedges his bets by hiring deranged mercenary Tom Everett (Dan Aykroyd) to eliminate his competition.
Why The Shack Is NOT Back
- It is completely unnecessary, especially since the first film did not have a sequel bait ending.
- Tons of unfunny jokes, including a scene where a horse farts more than once or when one character goes down a dry water slide and gets burns to his crotch or backside.
- Despite being a sequel to the original film, this film ignores the events of the first film like it didn't happen in the first place. To add to that, the sequel makes the first film completely useless.
- The new characters are cardboard cutouts of the characters from the original film and aren't likable (e.g. Captain Tom Everett (Dan Aykroyd) is Carl Spackler (Bill Murray), Chandler Young (Robert Stack) is somewhat like Judge Smails (Ted Knight), but not entirely and Jack Hartounian (Jackie Mason) is Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield)).
- Danny Noonan (the main protagonist from the first film) is never mentioned, as if he didn't exist at all. The same for the other ones like Judge Smails, Al Czervik, and Carl Spackler.
- Poor writing and directing.
- The film was chopped down to a PG rating, while the original film earned an R-rating, meaning the mature humor got severely toned down.
- False advertising: The tagline "The shack is back!" is inaccurate, because almost all of the cast from the original film didn't return, except for Ty Webb (Chevy Chase).
- Despite being a daughter and father, Kate Hartounian and her dad Jack have no chemistry with one another.
- The film is more like a live-action adaptation of a cartoon than a straight-up comedy, especially with scenes that involve cartoonish sound effects (eg. when a golf ball sounds like a missile after a club hits it) or cartoon-like visual effects (eg. when a golf ball leaves a colored smoke trail while going airborne after getting hit by the club).
- Product placement of Miller Beer.
- Dan Aykroyd's attempt at being like Carl Spackler was annoying and having his character do a fake high-pitched voice was not amusing.
- Executive meddling: Because the original script was taken away by Warner Bros. and because the studio forced Harold Ramis into making the film when he did not even want to make it. He didn't write a whole lot for the script since he refused to make this film.
- The film was rushed into production.
- Dark moments especially for a PG-rated movie, such as when Chandler hires someone to literally murder Jack.
Redeeming Qualities
- Chevy Chase, the late Robert Stack, and Dan Aykroyd all regret starring in the film.
- Allan Arkush stated on Letterboxd that he regretted making the film.
- Harold Ramis disowned the film in a March 1999 interview with A.V. Club.[1]
- The practical effects on the gopher are decent, and he is still a cute and funny character.
- The soundtrack is decent, especially the song "Nobody's Fool" by Kenny Loggins, which hit #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1988.
Reception
Caddyshack II was heavily panned by critics and audiences alike. It is widely regarded as one of the worst comedy sequels of all time. The film currently holds a 4% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a critic consensus that reads "Handicapped by a family friendly PG rating, even the talents of Caddyshack II's all-star comic cast can't save it from its lazy, laughless script and uninspired direction." Michael Wilmington of The Los Angeles Times described it as "a huge, multimillion-dollar version of "Make Me Laugh" - with no prizes" and also said that it "makes "Caddyshack 1" look like "Godfather II." The film also holds a 3.8 out of 10 on IMDb.
Box Office
Caddyshack II opened up at #8 on its opening weekend grossing $4,436,330 domestically. The film grossed $11,798,302 domestically against a $25 million budget, making the film a huge bomb at the box office.
Awards and nominations
Caddyshack II was nominated for four Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture (it lost to Cocktail), managing to win two: "Worst Supporting Actor" for Dan Aykroyd, and "Worst Original Song" for "Jack Fresh" by Full Force.
Trivia
- Rodney Dangerfield was interested in reprising his role as Al Czervik but ended up quitting after reading the script and throwing it in the trash can. Dangerfield had originally been the main driving force for the production of a sequel but became disillusioned with the project after original director Alan Metter (the director of Back to School which also starred Dangerfield) was fired, and control of the script was taken away from writers Harold Ramis and Peter Torokvei.
- Harold Ramis admitted in an interview with A.V. Club that he hated the experience of making the film and deemed it as terrible and would even go so far as to state that he wanted his name taken off of the writing credits. However, Warner Bros. said that if he took his name off it would hurt the film.
- Even though Ramis' name is on the script, he did not write the script. He wrote some of it.
- Chevy Chase regretted making the film. At one point, he asked Alan Arkush when he was going to add a laugh track before walking off in disgust.
- Robert Stack stated (sarcastically) that performing in this film was the highlight of his illustrious career.
Videos
References
External Links
Comments
- Bad media
- Bad films
- 1980s media
- 1980s films
- Comedy films
- Sequel films
- Warner Bros. films
- Sequel in-name only films
- Box office bombs
- Bad movies from good franchises
- Razzie Awards Worst Picture nominees
- Live-action films
- Films aware of how bad they are
- Movies that killed the franchise
- Films with misleading posters
- Sports films
- Gross-out films
- American films
- List of films considered the worst
- Executive meddling
- Bad sequels of good movies