Review: Delirious (1991)

John Candy stars as writer Jack Gable, who is pissed off with producers The Sherwoods (Jerry Orbach and Renee Taylor) for recent changes they’ve made to his soap opera behind his back. He’s especially miffed that they intend on killing off the show’s rich bitch Rachel Hedison, played by an equally bitch actress Laura Claybourne (Emma Samms) whom Jack has a crush on. When Laura breaks it off with her boyfriend, Jack sees this as his opportunity to woo her. Unfortunately, Jack suffers an unfortunate calamity that deprives him of this opportunity and has him instead waking up in the very same hospital that is a part of his show! He’s stuck in the world of the soap opera he created. It’s not just that, though, as Jack is mistaken for a mysterious and dashing tycoon and philanthropist, Jack Gates: The Wolf of Wall Street. Mariel Hemingway plays an aspiring actress, who in the world of the soap opera is Janet, a sweet girl who wants to live with ants in Africa and study them. Raymond Burr plays billionaire patriarch Carter Hedison, with Dylan Baker and Charles Rocket playing favoured son Blake and ne’er do well black sheep Ty Hedison, respectively. David Rasche plays the town’s most respected doctor (and the actor who plays him), who is romantically involved with vampish Rachel.

I miss the heck out of John Candy, and I’m sure a lot of you do too. The weird thing is, how many great movies was he the main star of? None, unless “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” counts as a starring role (or a great movie, it’s more ‘really good’ in my view). Sure, he appeared in two of the funniest movies ever made (“The Blues Brothers” and “National Lampoon’s Vacation”) but those were small roles. But for some reason, you just plain liked the guy, didn’t you? He apparently had his demons (which ultimately may have led to his death at a too young age of 43), but from all accounts was a super nice guy in real-life. And as far as I’m concerned, anyone who keeps Chevy Chase in a headlock for two hours at a party is a fucking international treasure (and I say that as a fan of several Chevy Chase films. It’s just that the story cracks me up).

Maybe it’s this connection and affection that people had for the guy that made his starring vehicles so enjoyable despite obvious flaws and not always glowing critical reception. At least one or two of “Uncle Buck”, “Cool Runnings”, “Only the Lonely”, “The Great Outdoors”, and “Who’s Harry Crumb?” will have a place in many of your hearts I’m sure (I don’t think there’s too many willing to defend “Wagons East!” or “Canadian Bacon”). For me, his two best vehicles were “Who’s Harry Crumb?” and this highly underrated 1991 soap opera spoof from director Tom Mankiewicz (writer-director of the film version of “Dragnet”, and writer of the excellent fantasy “Ladyhawke”) and screenwriters Lawrence J. Cohen & Fred Freeman (who teamed up for (“Start the Revolution Without Me”, “S*P*Y*S”, and a lot of TV). In fact, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that critics absolutely got it wrong with this one, which for me is the better soap opera spoof than the more well-received (but dull) “Soapdish”.

Aside from a lame vocal intro to the film’s soap opera (which seems more like a radio serial thing), this film really seems to nail soap operas, to anyone who has had enough spare time and a lack of a social life in order to have become addicted to such shows. Not that I’m speaking from experience, you understand. Casting Emma Samms, a vampy Joan Collins-esque veteran of “General Hospital” and “Dynasty” was a real casting coup here, and she’s pitch-perfect as a vain soap opera star and her spoiled vampy rich girl soap opera character. David Rasche, meanwhile plays dense and bland extremely well. Former “Perry Mason” Raymond Burr was a clever casting choice as the powerful, rich family patriarch. Kudos for having the late Charles Rocket basically play the guy with the eyepatch from “Days of Our Lives” re-imagined as a creepy ne’er do well. Funny stuff. Anyone with a familiarity with soap operas will definitely appreciate Candy’s exclamation ‘What is this, the third brain tumour this month?’. Oh yeah, “The Bold and the Beautiful” pull that shit all the time. Or so I’ve heard. The running joke of characters exclaiming things like ‘If she was my mother!’ in melodramatic fashion never gets old, either. As for the character of Jack Gates, all I’ll say is the actor chosen to portray him couldn’t be more perfect, and there’s a twist involving him that many a soap opera (The long-running “Days of Our Lives” in particular…I mean, so I’ve heard) have used as well.

I love the overall premise of the film, as a writer gets somehow stuck on his own show and having to write his way out of situations. It gets especially funny when characters find themselves saying and doing things for reasons they don’t know because Candy hasn’t written that in for them (Even funnier later is when Candy types while drunk and his typos cause all kinds of confusion). Meanwhile, the entire dynamic between the characters played by Burr, Rocket, and Dylan Baker is the comic highlight of the film, with Baker’s physical deterioration not far behind. Candy’s hokey heroics as Jack Gates are also pretty priceless, mostly because of how ridiculously unconvincing he is. I never picked up on it on previous viewings, but this time around I was particularly amused by the use of a very familiar TV theme when Candy wakes up on his own TV show (I also somehow missed the Margot Kidder cameo the six previous times I’ve seen this. I feel so silly!). Hell, even the early scenes of an irate Candy trying to get a hold of the cable guy are funny.

Proof that not every good comedy has to be a constant gut-buster. This is nice, clever, amusing, and pretty damn perfectly performed across the board. It’s no “Pleasantville”, but ignore the critics, this one’s still a lot better than it has been reputed to be. Terrible title song, though. What the hell is that shit?

Rating: B