I feel like I have seen a great number of movies in my lifetime so far, and yet I also feel as though there is a great number that I still need to see. Thanks to my new Netflix account, I am busily catching up on the movies that I have somehow missed beforehand. For example, I have just seen for the first time The Big Lebowski, Aliens, Patton, Robocop, and a bunch of other classics this summer alone. As embarrassing as it is for me to admit this, it is also just as depressing to think about how I could have seen these movies long before I suffered through train wrecks such as Corky Romano. I had no reason NOT to seek out these films that I knew I’d love, but if I had to blame anything, it would probably be my overachiever-ness in college that took up most of my film-watching time.
That said, I am shocked, just completely SHOCKED, that I hadn’t seen The Blues Brothers long before. I mean, it is a musical comedy classic featuring some of my favorite genres of music and starring Dan Aykroyd and John freakin’ Belushi. It’s like this movie was tailor-made for me, but for some reason, it had always escaped my consciousness during the time when I really got into watching films. However, I have redeemed myself; I have seen this film just about a week ago, and I am ready to review it. So, was it the amazing comedic masterpiece that I heard it was, or was it a major disappointment?
Sorry to feign the suspense, because the answer is obvious. I LOVED this movie! Loved loved loved loved loved this movie! Loved it! Loved every energetic soulful foot-stomping musical number in it. Loved the well-timed well-acted comedy moments in it. Loved the chaotic, large-scale set pieces that make up this whole film.
And yet, I feel a little guilty when I say all this, because (other than the fact that I ripped off Roger Ebert) I am pretty sure that The Blues Brothers is not that good of a movie. I mean, it has great production value and entertainment value, but its story is very lacking. It hardly has a story; the few moments this film spends on any sort of plot development only serve to set up the next comedic beat, the next musical number, or the next ridiculous car chase scene. The characters are one-dimensional and easily motivated, and overall the movie seems to celebrate its shallowness.
So the main plot of The Blues Brothers follows Elwood (Aykroyd) and brother “Joliet” Jake (Belushi), the latter of whom just released from prison. For some reason, they decide to visit their old home, a Catholic orphanage, where they learn from “The Penguin” that it will be closed unless it pays $5,000 for late property taxes. The brothers offer to give the nun the money right on the spot, but she refuses it, knowing that it was ill-gotten. As the brothers figure out how to come up with the money legitimately, Jake has a religious epiphany at an evangelical church (during a high-spirited musical number, of course) and realizes that they can earn the money by bringing their old blues band back together and playing gigs. So during their so-called “mission from Gyad”, they somehow get mixed up with the state police, who endlessly pursue them as they make their way through their tour.
So that’s about as much as we get for story in this film, and really, the plot points are only excuses for the brothers to get to the next funny bit or the next musical number. And that’s really the meat of this movie: the outrageously absurd, epicly scaled moments of music, comedy, and chaos that reach almost Michael Bay levels of excessiveness. They are so crazy, so over-the-top, you are never sure whether you should feel amazed or insulted, because many of these moments don’t make any logical sense.
Take, for example, the brilliant final chase scene, in which the Blues brothers race to Chicago’s city hall building in order to pay off the orphanage’s taxes. They aren’t just being chased by a couple of police cars, but literally HUNDREDS of them, along with a rival country band, a firemen brigade, the SWAT team, the U.S. military, and even a couple of neo-Nazis! Police cars are piling up and crashing everywhere, some automobiles fall from great distances and crash through pure pavement, and when they finally apprehend the brothers, everyone and their grandmother is pointing a huge semi-automatic at them. And what started this whole chase? A traffic violation? Resisting arrest? Maybe it was for all of the damage and mayhem they caused with their band. But does that really call for this massive manhunt for these two guys? I’d be surprised if this many people were looking for Osama Bin Laden at any given time!
I deeply apologize for comparing this movie to a Michael Bay film earlier, but it makes me think of an important question: How can I hate other movies that pounds the audience with excessive action and comedy, like any given Transformers film, and yet completely adore this movie? I think I have multiple answers. First, in The Blues Brothers, the comedy and action is actually well done and comprehensible. Secondly, all of the crazy stunts and car crashes are done with practical effects, not CGI. If this movie were made today, there’s no doubt that everything in the climatic action sequence near the end would’ve been computer rendered, which would have saturated the effect of all this mayhem.
The final and most important reason is the fact that this is a musical. Musical movies, by their nature, are highly illogical; people never sing and dance out of the blue like this in real life! You can forgive a lot in a musical film’s story if it has excellent music, beautiful showmanship, and the right amount of energy, and Blues Brothers has all three. Musical guest stars pop up randomly with hardly any explanation, but they provide the greatest moments of this film. Aretha Franklin sings a rousing rendition of “Think”, Ray Charles nearly causes a riot in the streets with “Shake A Tail Feather”, and even “The Godfather of Soul” James Brown goes all gospel preacher on us with “The Old Landmark”. This is true dance music. And by dance music, I’m not talking about the industrial sludge produced today by the likes of Jason DeRulo or Lil’ Wayne. I’m talking about real, energetic, upbeat, “get up and wildly jerk your body in ways that somewhat resemble dance movements” dance music, just like in the good ol’ days of the 60’s and 70’s. And the action and comedic beats of the film perfectly compliments the jubilation of this uproarious soundtrack, making for a wildly entertaining, almost euphoric experience.
Also, unlike Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Blues Brothers does the city of Chicago justice. Instead of just being a random, anonymous city like in DotM, Chicago shows its character in every frame of this film. From the wonderful landmarks of the city shown in key scenes to Elwood’s delightfully thick Chicagoan accent, we are immersed in the Windy City’s culture. Most importantly, though, is the music. Chicago is known as the epicenter for the development of blues, jazz, soul, and gospel music, and just as Chicago’s music scene is a mixture of these genres, The Blues Brothers Band’s play list is a beautiful amalgamation of these various styles. We can literally hear Chicago’s musical history play out in the soundtrack of the film, from the electric Chicago blues that The Blues Brothers Band favor to its early influences of Southern blues after the Great Migration in the early 1900’s. Even the legendary Chicago jazz bandleader Cab Calloway has a small role in this film, leading up a memorable rendition of “Minnie the Moocher” in his classic big band style. This movie is like one big, long love letter to the city of Chicago and its music, made into a feature-length film.
Finally, I’d like to mention the brothers. To me, The Blues Brothers perfectly personify the word “cool”. Everything that they do is cool. They dress cool, they act cool, and they talk cool. Even when they are getting chased by the cops, getting nearly blown up by a pissed-off Carrie Fisher, or preparing for a crazy car jump, they do so in a calm and controlled manner. The most iconic image I can think of is when the brothers are sitting emotionlessly in the Bluesmobile while a line of cop cars, as far as the eye can see, follow their trail. When they’re on stage, though, they really get into the music, and half the fun of the film is watching them energetically perform their great numbers. These guys are the iconic symbols of “cool”, and I wouldn’t be half-surprised if their look didn’t somewhat inspire the look of Vincent and Jules from Pulp Fiction.
The Blues Brothers was kind of a hard movie to review. I absolutely love it, and yet the critic inside me wanted to dislike it for the shallow way its story was told. However, I feel that the most important aspect of any movie, its entertainment value, should be the deciding factor to whether I should recommend it or not, and this movie was entertaining as hell! You will curse the couches in your living room for taking up your dancing space, as this movie will revitalize your love for music. Combined with the excellent humor and the ludicrous car stunts, The Blues Brothers is the ultimate movie for any party. No wonder many consider this one of the best SNL spin-off movies ever made, along with Wayne’s World.
Oh crap, that reminds me! I haven’t seen Wayne’s World yet?!! Man, I suck at this.
Rating: 4 Stars
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Running time: 133 minutes
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