Life Stinks (1991) – Mel Brooks countdown #6
Concept: Be serious for once.
Billionaire developer Mel Brooks owns part of a poor area of a US city. He wants to own the whole it, so he can throw its residents out and make more money from rebuilding it all. His rival developer wants the same.
So they have a bet: if Brooks can survive there with no money for thirty days, he can have it all. If he fails, the rival gets it.
Unsurprising, he doesn't find life with no money easy…
What’s good: The introduction of Brooks' character, establishing how nasty he is at the start, is great.
The argument with 'J Paul Getty' and the love scene.
The message of the film.
What’s not so good: You know what's going to happen at the end from the opening credits onwards, and most of the laughs stop not much later than that.
Music: This was the last time John Morris did a score for him. As with most, it's good without being great.
Miscellany:
Overall: I said that Twelve Chairs was his least typical comedy, and this is less typical than that.. because it's not really a comedy.
If you treat it as a drama with some laughs as a bonus, it's fine. Unfortunately, the audience wanted (and still wants, from its IMDb rating) a comedy. It failed badly at the box office.
Once you get over the way that you know what's going to happen and that it's a sanitised version of homelessness, it's very watchable.
TL;DR Brooks last film since the 1970s that you could call 'good'
Film: 3/5
DVD: 2/5
Trailer.