365 Films A Year!

What’s to be said about Johnny Dangerously? Made in the wake of Michael Keaton’s success in Night Shift and Mr. Mom, it is a big, showy comedy about 1940s gangsters. It tries, soemwhat, to emulate the Airplane!-style of over-the-top comedy, but only partially succeeds. It is resuced by spirited performances from its cast that help carry it through some wonky material.

The story revolves around Johnny Kelly (Keaton), a poor kid who finds himself caught up in the rackets, working for local crime boss Jocko Dundee (Peter Boyle) as a way of paying his mother’s medical bills and putting his brother through law school. Johnny’s rise has been quick and he uses his influence to steer Jocko away from crimes that hurt people. Also, he takes up with singer Lil (Marilu Henner) and things look good. But trouble comes from several directions. Rival boss Roman Moronie (Richard Dimitri) is putting pressure on Jocko and an internal struggle begins with Jocko’s new enforcer, Danny Vermin (Joe Piscopo). When Jocko retires, leaving the gang in Johnny’s hands, more trouble arises when his own brother, Tommy (Griffin Dunne), becomes an assistant DA ans decides to take down the mob.

The appeal of Johnny Dangerously rests firmly on the backs of its cast. Keaton shows off his wise-cracking side, but allows the softer side of Johnny to come through as well. Griffin Dunne is great as the wide-eyed, naive law enforcer and Peter Boyle has some great stuff, as well. Maureen Stapleton gets in a few good gags as Johnny and Tommy’s mom, but most of her jokes seem tame by today’s standards. Merilu Henner is appealing as Lil and performs her songs well, but isn’t really given too much to do.

The best performance, however, comes from Joe Piscopo, who was never really able to capitalize on the fame he built on Saturday Night Live under the shadow of Eddie Murphy. Here he gets a chance to really go all out and his villainous, but extremely dim bad guy is a real highlight.

Unfortunately, the heart of the film is basically empty. It is a string of jokes dropped over top of a skeleton of a storyline and that’s just not enough to make this one a true classic. Still, it’s good for a bunch of laughs and there are some solid performances to be found. If you just want a wacky comedy to occupy some time, you can do a lot worse than Johnny Dangerously.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 8:59 am and is filed under 1984, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Romance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.