Life Stinks

Starring:Billy Barty, Marvin Braverman, Stanley Brock, Carmine Caridi, Rudy De Luca, Michael Ensign, Matthew Faison, Howard Morris, Raymond O'Connor, Stuart Pankin, Robert Ridgely, Frank Roman, Sammy Shore, Jeffrey Tambor, Brian Thompson, James Van Patten, Lesley Ann Warren, John Welsh (III), Teddy Wilson
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Life stinks--and if by "life" you mean this movie, then here indeed is truth in advertising. Mel Brooks totally missed the boat with this attempt at a comedy about life in the greedy Reagan years. He plays a heartless tycoon who bets that he could easily survive for a month on the streets of L.A. without a penny to his name, and then gets tricked out of his fortune. He winds up learning how the other half lives and it isn't funny. Literally. Watching this film, it's hard to believe it was made by the same man who wrote and directed The Producers. What does it tell you that this film was loved in France? --Marshall Fine

Description

Acclaimed actor/writer/director Mel Brooks (Spaceballs, The Producers) takes his hilarious brand of comic lunacy to the streetsliterallywith this warmhearted comedy (Roger Ebert) about a rich man who wins back his humanity...by losing everything else he's got! Multi-billionaire Goddard Bolt (Brooks) has just made a deal that will change his life. In order to win the right to build over a ghetto, Bolt must survive on its impoverished streetspennilessfor 30 days. But when this well-to-do man discovers what it's like to do without, it'll take the charity of a feisty bag lady (Lesley Ann Warren) and a newly found appreciation for the best things in life to show him the true meaning of being filthy rich!

Customer Reviews:

Right Up There With "City Lights".......2007-04-22

After being criticized for producing mostly spoof movies, Mel Brooks departed from that genre and returned to the semi-real world of his early two films "The Producers" and "The Twelve Chairs." "Life Stinks" is a Chaplinesque fable that focused on the very real problems of America's homeless. While it was met with indifference by the moviegoing public and critics took turns hurling brickbats, practically inviting derision due to the title, there were a few perceptive reviewers who recognized that this was Brooks' most sincere and daring effort in years. Perhaps if the title of this film had been "Life Is Beautiful," it would have met a different fate. Nevertheless, this film is an important entry into the Brooks canon. Putting his money where his mouth is, Mel Brooks made a strong social statement as well as an entertaining film. It's his most personal work since "The Producers."

Its true.......2006-11-17

A rich man lives in the streets, he faces ups and downs, but it is very funny! But it's true too.

Mel just being Mel.......2006-09-21

OK, if you love Mel Brooks, you will not be disappointed, as this flick has several laugh-out-loud moments. And Lesley Ann Warren is, as usual, superb. If Mel hasn't and doesn't flip your switch, well, you may as well skip this one. Probably not the strongest screenplay ever filmed, but I liked it and recommend it.

Very Good For Later Brooks!!!.......2006-08-02

Loved this movie and was cracking up through most of it. Brooks may have peaked during Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein but this movie is very funny and I'm going to buy it now (after seeing it on tv).

Silly Comedy.......2006-05-01

I think it might have been fun if it was a musical instead of movie. The homeless lady's face was so clean with make-up that she did not look like homeless. Not a very good movie.

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