Episode 6: Modern Problems (1981)

Weird. Hello everyone, and welcome to the Chasing Chevy Chase Cast. I am one of your hosts, Christashu from the Culture Cast, and I'm joined by my two good friends all the way from Cambridge and Wishan, but more importantly from Wake Up Heavy, your friend of mine, Mark Begley. Oh Me, life sucks, so why not be a schmunck. And also from the Internet's most I think, most underrated movie podcast.

But it's the best movie podcast on the Internet. You should check it out right now, the Projection boost own Mike White. Holding these chicken cuts. There's going to be an awfully big ruckus here this weekend. Dear God, well, there will not be a whole lot of a ruckus on this episode of the Chasing Chevy Chase Cast, because we're going to be talking about a film that I think the three of us have been waiting with baited breath to talk about, myself included having seen the preview for this movie I think over the last ten years multiple times.

We're gonna be talking about nineteen eighty one's comedy film Modern Problems. Chevy Chase is Max Fiedler Johnny Tuna, an air traffic controller who's losing control. Three fifty. Oh, there for three fifty for Tuna happy your connection, I mean at three fifty from Denise. Not YouTube, it's maintaining three twenty five.

He lives a modern life with a modern girl, modern friends and modern problems. What seems to be the problem. Well, his girlfriend moved out on him yesterday and she took everything in the apartment, and now she's here. With some guy. Let's pay on off?

What dinute she took him? Know, everybody dumps on Max. Until a nuclear shower gives him the power and a green light. It's true to get even cree. Now he's out of control, our frona and about to make this the funniest Christmas ever.

This is Dean. Now he touched that he death nobody, no Chevy Chase. He's got hot brains. Like it. And modern problems.

Taddy Darwinville, Mary Kate Place, Nell Carter and Dapney Coleman. Modern problems. I blew it, Modern problems. It'll glow on you. So.

The film is written and directed by Ken Shapiro. There are a couple other names on the written by Tom sarah Man and Arthur Sellars, and it stars Chevy Chase as Max Fiedler, an air traffic controller whose life sucks and he's a terrible person. Yeah, Dick, Yes, Yeah, let's let's just break down Max Fiedler for a second. So he's the main character of the movie, but he may be the most unlikable character Chevy Chase has ever played in his career of playing somewhat unlikable characters who still have a heart of gold. Max Fiedler is a man who is obsessed with his ex girlfriend to the point where he tracks her constantly and she doesn't like it, and that sets into motion the events of the film, which end up with Max being covered in nuclear waste.

Yes, this is a real movie. No, I don't think you should watch it just to bury the lead immediately. But I'm gonna kick it to Mark Begley. Pronounce it's pronounced new Killer, Oh. Newton Killer Begley.

I'm gonna kick it to you first. What did you think of modern problems? I don't know. I think I mentioned either on or off podcast that I thought I had watched this sometime in the last five, six, ten years or something and had enjoyed it. But I don't think that's true either.

Part I think I've already. Used a lie as all of that statement right there. I feel because I lie, I remember nothing of the plot, some of the main set pieces, the restaurant scenes, the gay bar scene. I don't like none of that. Rank I remember three things from the movie.

So I have a feeling that I saw this in my late teens early twenties and that was it. And I, for some reason, thinking that I saw it recently and liked it, I was looking forward to watching it again. And man, oh man, we got to hit a peek at some point here, because it's just been nothing of the Valley's so far. That's my take. What about you, Mark, you ignorant slut.

This was one of the best movies that has been made for the American screens since Gone with the Wind. On this episode of everybody else but Me is lying at that point. I used to watch this movie on cable U. I don't know why, because it's not very good at all. Like Mark, I remember a few scenes very vividly.

Yeah, it was interesting to revisit this, very odd to see just how the filmmaking was done. The score in particular was very wild. I was thrilled that I got to read the script and see that this played out pretty closely to what was written, minus a wrap around segment that had more to do with airplanes, which ironically really strikes home in twenty twenty four as pieces are falling off of airplanes allegedly allegedly, Oh oh is that hotly? Oh, it's another one of those democratic ruses. I understand fake news.

I mean, Chris, we've talked about air traffic controllers on our discussions about Barney Miller and just want a high pressure job, that is, But I don't think that they really pay attention to that very much. It was kind of a wasted opportunity with these air traffic controllers. And it's really two scenes. Yeah, it's really to your point from earlier about what a piece of shit Max Fiedler is. And I don't know if we're not supposed to dislike him because he's so unlikable and just so oh he's a terrible human being.

I mean, Dadney Coleman is worse. And that was one thing from the script that we'll talk about, is Dadney Coleman's character for sure. But yeah, you know, cinematic brilliance aside. I think this is a reason. There's a reason why this is Ken Shapiro's last film that he ever made in Hollywood.

Only made a few things before that, including the Groove Tube, which I know you guys have spoken about, and currently there's like Coco of the Clown from the beginning of the movies from the Groove Tube. It's been a long time since I've seen that movie. Yeah, I don't know, what'd you think, Chris, I'm so curious to get your thoughts. Was this the first time viewing for you? Yeah, it was, But like I kind of alluded to, I've seen the preview for this movie a lot.

I just Chevy Chase has modern problems, and you know what, I have a lot of problems with this movie. It's not funny. I mean, just right out of the gate. If you're gonna build this movie as a comedy, if you're gonna have Chevy Chase in it, try harder or maybe And here's the thing, like you've kind of already alluded to. There is an episode of the Culture Cast from twenty twenty three where, thanks to Father Malone, we covered sketch comedy movies for an entire month, and I think the Group two was the worst thing we watched.

Out of everything, it was the least coherent. It was the least I don't know, it just it was. It was. It lacked a coherence and a cohesiveness that a sketch comedy movie kind of needs. And again I'm talking about cohesiveness in the style of comedy, and I guess it was cohesive in that Ken Shapiro style of comedy.

Just doesn't resonate with me there, and it doesn't resonate with me here at all. And what's sad is, obviously, in a sketch comedy movie, you have, you know, ten to fifteen opportunities to swing the bat, to try to hit the ball, to make somebody laugh. But it's you know, fifteen different kinds of balls you're hitting in this movie. It's just missed opportunity after missed opportunity after missed opportunity. And it's a narrative, which is even worse.

And I mean, I think we might all three contend that there's a narrative, all right, but it's barely there. If it's there at all, they don't necessarily seem to hold themselves to any sort of traditional film structure. It just seems like things happen, and then more things happen, and then things happen at the end of the movie, Like, there doesn't seem to be necessarily a plot other than look, it's chevy Chase and he's working with Ken Shapiro again, and he's kind of an asshole in this movie. I don't know if Ken Shapiro doesn't know how to write for chevy Chase or what it is, because again, like this is eighty one. Chevy Chase should not be in this bat of a clunker in eighty one.

I mean, this is this is a movie that I mean again, like by the time the movie ended, I was glad it was over, and it's only an hour and a half. It is a slog and it's this might be the first time I've seen chevy Chase as something where I genuinely go I get what they were going for. But what a mistake, What a mistake to have a character like this as the lead. If you had another character as the lead and he's just playing second fiddle like in foul Play, okay, fine, and then maybe he can be this kind of imminently unlikable as a character. But my god, Max Fiedler is the worst character so far that we've seen that Chevy Chase has played.

Like in terms of the podcast that we're doing, I can't think of a worse role than this, other than maybe him in Nothing but Trouble, which I don't I don't know if y'all have seen, but he. Plays a pretty can't speak to that. He plays a pretty unlikable character there too, but it's in a different direction. He's just kind of, I don't know, a rich asshole in this movie. He's just like a creep just to creep, and it's really hard to root for this character as the hero, as the protagonist of the film.

Chris, I can't believe you started that metaphor talking about fifteen different balls and trying to hit the balls, and you didn't bring it back to us getting hitting the balls as we're watching this movie. I mean repeatedly, but being hitting the balls would actually maybe elicit some laughter. I don't want to give the movie any credit that he wouldn't even know to aim for the balls. It would aim for your shin and go. Isn't that funny?

No, it's not. You hit me in the shins with a baseball bat, and that's the thing. I can see an idea here of what would be a funny movie, and the premise of chevy Chase being able to do something. I guess it's never really necessarily even made clear as to what he's able to do. But there is a scene or two in this movie that are inspired enough to make me question whether or not Ken Shapiro is talent, has zero talent.

I think he has some talent. I just don't think he is as funny as he thinks he is. And I think this movie, along with The Groove two, is a good example of that. This movie doesn't know what it wants to be. It could be a relationship film about Max who got dumped by Darcy and he still is in contact with his ex wife and she falls in love with his old friend who's this you know, self help publishing guru.

And there's a self help guru, doctor Phil type that's in the mix who's kind of screwing some stuff up, and they go away to a beach house and there's all kinds of you know, misconceptions and comedic things happen, and then there's tension along there. That's one movie, Okay, The other movie is this Air traffic controller who's having all of these problems. That's another movie. The third movie is here's this guy who suddenly has these psychic powers due to nuclear waste being dumped on him as he's driving along. That's the third movie.

These three movies together don't fit. We are just shoving them all into one thing, and a really just doesn't work. The whole idea of him having psychic powers at this couple's weekend type of thing. No, it's just it's just no. But that's the movie.

The movie is this schlub gets psychic powers and is able to do all this stuff, and then they're not actually like hours that are from the nuclear waste. Apparently it's more of a possession. Like all of a sudden it turns into an exorcism film, So all of this stuff with him having these nuclear powers are suddenly No, it's a spirit that then somehow infests with der Rita, the Nell Carter character, who at least she's not putting on a thick accent kind of thing, but for as this voodoo priestess, I mean, hello nineteen eighty one, I think you know. Mark before we started recording, talked about how she's the magical Negro of this movie. She totally is the magical Negro of this but literally a magicallygro of this movie.

At least does to throw on a patois, right, I mean that's the I mean, at least she's not doing like a Jamaican patois. Oh you know what she could be miss Cleo coming. Dosta dati dasta DODDI oh yeah, irie on bumba claude. I mean yeah, I mean I was waiting for it, I really do, because the moment you see her, it's like, oh Jesus, like this, Oh God, Ken Shapiro, here we go, and yeah, she opens the mouth and just is not doing any of that. Thank god.

She doesn't even sell like sound like now Carter to me, she doesn't sound like what was the TV show for all that time? I mean she was, yeah, oh boy, where she I think I played a maid, just like how she's a maid in this one. Yeah, that was. This was not her first rodeo. She had been okay, give me a break, great theme song, great great theme song.

She's not for that. And this on IMDb guys, yay, yikes. Yeah, the then seat of the I guess the main problem of the movie of him being a dick and being possessive of his girlfriend just was I'm like, are we is this going to be the whole thing? Because that really is not fun to watch, Like this is his character for real, not like it's a misunderstanding where no, he's doing all this stuff tracking her, calling her constantly, and then when they end up connecting again, or I mean they are constantly connecting, it's a recent breakup, but he starts doing the same stuff again and like following her home when he after the he makes Barry's nose bleed and I'm like, you gotta be kidne me man, this is ridiculous.

And then the other conceit is him constantly telling people that he has powers and not just showing them. He's in rooms with stuff that's not nailed down to the floor, moves something. It takes all the way to that dinner at Brian Doyle Murray's house before he kicks it into gear and I'm like, you show, don't tell. I thought you meant don't tell. Yeah, Jesus Christ.

That was bizarre too. I didn't get that, and I guess I missed I don't know if I missed a line of apparently he's getting worse or feeling worse as the movie progresses. I guess by the. Time they get to the beach house and he's sitting in the room up there by himself and making everything float, and he's just like Gray, I'm like, where is this stuff coming from? I didn't know that it was actually making him feel bad.

There's no prior indication that. I mean, obviously nuclear waste being dumped on you would make you very sick in the real world, but there was no indication of that prior to that. It was just that he's a dick. His ex is constantly going out with this slab and he's angry about that. But what where's the you know, getting progressively worse stuff before then?

Well, whether physically worse or even mentally worse, Like was he I mean, he wasn't a nice person to start off with, but maybe this is affecting him mentally. But no, they don't really talk about that either. It's odd to me because they don't do anything to make him a sympathetic character. And again, I'm not saying chevy Chase has to be a sympathetic character. I think that his characters are best when they're written to him.

I mean, when the person that they are writing for is expectationally chevy Chase in that role. I mean, look at Fletch, look at National Lampot's vacation. I mean, these are roles that, once he's in them, they start writing to that and it helps with the character and the delivery and the kind of comedy. But my god, it's just like you've mentioned. I mean, we have a nuclear waste thing, but then he's a demon at one point, and all of this is wrapped up in again, a love story between two characters who I don't understand.

There's no chemistry between chevy Chase and the actress who plays Darcy. There's very little chemistry between chevy Chase and anybody in this movie. I mean, I would say maybe his ex wife Mary kay Place, they have a little bit more interesting chemistry. But Patti d'arbinville and chevy Chase have no chemistry. I don't understand why he's chasing her unless he's just, you know, a guy who can't handle things in the real world, which I understand.

That's probably what they were going for. Chevy Chase quote Max Fiedler is basically a nice guy who suffers from most of the hang ups of our society. He's jealous, possessive, uptight, and insecure, but he can't verbalize those feelings, so he's got a lot of repressed rage. That last sentence is not in the movie at all. If it were, this might be an interesting movie because I understand the idea of a guy in the modern world with modern problems and he doesn't know how to hack it.

That makes perfect sense. There's the air traffic controller story, plus the story of a guy who lets his worst impulses get the better of him. Why does that have anything to do with a guy who can now control things and make things fly around the room? That again, that's high concept right there. Those three things together don't necessarily mix.

But give the National Lampoons the opportunity to write to this and you know what's even worse. I'm sure you guys noticed one of the ep names on this Doug fucking Kenny of all, Oh, I. Didn't I miss that. I think this might have been posthumous for Doug Kenny, or at least he was just about dead when this movie came out. I'm not trying to be though.

That should have been the name of the book. Doug Kenny almost dead, almost near Yeah, he died in eighty So I mean, I guess my point is, yes, I understand that Doug Kenny was no longer around, But I don't think Doug Kenny didn't see the script for this movie at some point and look at it and read through it like that would be somewhat hard for me to believe. I'm not blaming Doug Kenny. I think most of the problems with this movie rest solely on the shoulders of Ken Shapiro, and I feel like I can speak to that a little bit better than I would have had never seen The Groove Too, because The Groove Tube is criminally unfunny the way that this movie is criminally unfunny. This is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time, similarly to when we watched Casino Royale for ranking on Bond, because the worst thing for me is a movie that is that thinks it's funny and is not funny at all at all.

I mean, there are very few moments in this movie that are actually comedic. Most of them fall very flat, like a scene in a restaurant where everybody is coming on to one another and that's supposed to be enough, and it goes on for like four or five minutes, Like God's name. If this were Tim and Eric, I'd appreciate the anti humor of it, but you're trying to be funny. Did anybody the restaurant scenes was music played that loudly in restaurants back? I mean, I was a lie back then.

I don't recall that. In both of those restaurant scenes, the music was just and I don't know if it was a mixed thing like the version we were watching at a horror sound mix, or if that was done on purpose, But I'm like, good God, I couldn't sit in a restaurant like that. What music being played that loud? It was pretty loud, though at least it wasn't D Dad and D Dad and D D D played all types of different ways over and over and over. It's such a memorable piece of music.

Wouldn't you want to hear it over and over and over again. It was really nice to hear that song again, I have to say after all these years, because I was one of the best things about it with the tubes theme, But once they started using that as the theme for the entire movie. I was like, Oh my god, this is just over and over again. This is unbelievable. But you know, there, like I said, there are moments of this movie that I remembered vividly, things like the nosebleeds, the nose in lustaurant.

I mean that I can't say it's high comedy, but I definitely remember that. And you also have chevy Chase making very funny faces. And that's the best part of this movie is that I think it's three or four times where he's making funny faces. Well he's in his psychic powers, like the orgasm scene, the ballet scene, and then this restaurant scene, and that's about it. I mean, that's those are the three times that they're actually using chevy Chase for what chevy Chase should be used for.

And those are the three well, two things I remember the nosebleed, and when that started happening, I said to my wife and daughter, I'm like, oh, he's going to blow this guy's nuts up. And I had confused the two. So nosebleed scene with Berry exploding nuts. At the ballet I remembered distinctly, well, sort of distinctly, and then and the end snorting up that demon powder of course, which the classic moment probably got the biggest laugh out of me. And I like the way that they shot it, and I actually thought it was well executed, and you know, simple shot and reverse with something pouring out of his nose and it looked great.

And then him standing up and giving that line. You know, that's the movie. Why is he? Why is it a demon? Now?

Though, like you mentioned, Mike, and I actually wrote that down on my notes, it's a possession movie now, question mark, because it doesn't matter. That's why, because Ken Shapiro, Because Ken Shapiro seemingly wrote himself into a corner. I guess it makes no sense. Well that's what the mel Carter character might think it is, but it's it's not really, but it's played like it is. He's responding like he's possessed.

Definitely. He was like like the they distored his voice and everything, like if they're not, i''re not going for that. I don't know why they leaned into. It, right. I'm surprised you didn't say your mother sews socks in hell.

Yeah, I was waiting for for Darcy to say Yeah, my boyfriend sleeps above the covers four feet above. I mean he's glowing green. At one point, the question then becomes can everyone see him glowing green? What's the deal with the credit? Just now?

Carter? But he can't seen himself growing glowing green in the mirror though, which is also you're also never explained. But that's the trade shot for you baby. Now, Yeah, that seems more like uh uh, you know, he just took that to heart type of thing, like oh, and she's like, no, you look fine, right, He's he's blooked in the mirror since that, I mean, you know, we see him taking a shower and. He couldn't see himself glowing green.

When he comes home after getting the stuff dumped on him and he just falls asleep and his coat's glowing green, his clothes are glowing green. And yeah, I was like, okay, is this like the Spider Man moment? He's going to wake up the next morning, He's going to be okay, But yet everything has changed physically for him. No, because they show it kind of dissipating into his head, right, like it all absorbed up into his brain and now that's why he has powers. And like you mentioned Mike the missed opportunity with the air traffic control stuff, because I thought that was going to keep coming back with him at work and either you know, messing with planes or messing but there you don't get even an indication that it's a stressful job, as they say in the a byline or whatever, because he's not freaking out in that first scene.

There's no big thing happening. It's just ordering sandwiches. Right, And that scene, I feel, goes on a lot longer in the script. It feels like there's more of the other air traffic controllers in the movie as it is. There's basically the character Peete played by Sandy Helberg, and he's the one with the thick glasses.

He gets freaked out by the airplane ash tray zooming around the room and stuff. And he's there when Max is having the conversation with Tunis the airline, but he's ordering a tuna sandwich. Ha ha ha. That even goes on for longer in the script as well. I want to say, there's other people ordering sandwiches and they're also screwing up as far as the air traffic thing, and there's almost a near collision and all this stuff, and it's like, yeah, that should have gone on for way more.

And the opening scene that I was talking about that closes the movie is I think it's like you see it air a guy who's repairing airplanes and something doesn't fit or something, so he like uses some duct tape on there, and then towards the end of the movie this like whatever, the the thing underneath the plane, the landing gear falls down and falls into the room with all of the air traffic controllers and you see it's the exact same piece with the duct tape and everything, and it's like, okay, you know, the joke from an hour and a half ago, plate pays off now, But they don't have that, And yeah, to your point, they don't show that this is a stressful job. They should have had everybody there with like the long ash on the cigarette type of thing and just you know, all of them should have been like stressed out in some way because this was a very stressful job.

And that's why they ended up going on strike while the movie was actually being made. Yeah, and that maybe why that stuff is taken out, you know, to like kind of because that could have ruined their strike or something. You know, it was a topical, topical subject here, and yeah, they just missed the opportunity completely. Y at that point, it's like, why does that have to be air traffic control anything? I think that the air traffic control stuff was them trying to be topical and then them not like like you mentioned, Mike, like and I parsed.

I parsed around on the stuff online and seeing that they mentioned that, it's like, I feel like, for me, would the movie have been better if they had leaned more into that. Maybe at least it would have given us an idea of why he is the way that he is. Use that as an opportunity to see his character under stress, losing it, like starting to crack up. Instead, we just get and again. I have nothing against Brian Doyle Murray.

Why is Brian Doyle Murray in a wheelchair this year? It makes no sense. It is literally there to just be there. I don't like, it doesn't add anything to his character. I actually think Brian Doyle Murray is maybe the best part of this movie because it's such a kind of just understated performance, like he's not doing anything really, he's not being asked to do much of than just kind of be chevy Chase's friend from back in the day who was in Nam you know, Nam folks.

And I mean that's why he doesn't have his legs like they literally go I was in Nam and it's like okay, sure, uh, but again it doesn't go anywhere, and he's not and he's never antagonistic towards chevy Chase. He's nothing but welcoming to chevy Chase and he believes him, I guess outright more or less. But they don't do anything with the character other than just Brian Doyle Murray being there and them not allowing him to be funny either. I mean, he's never given anything comedic to do. He's not even like the Barry character is somewhat of a foil for chevy Chase.

He's not even a foil. He's just there and again in a wheelchair because I no. Betther missed opportunity. Yeah, another missed opportunity. Chevy could have lifted him up out of that chair and made him walk to prove that he can do stuff.

Oh yeah, well, I think there was a scene where he fucks around with that with that character. What is his name? Why may I Ryan? Oh? Like Brian do Murray O.

Yeah. In the script, it's the man in the wheelchair is a thirty five year old Hemingway type, I guess, thus the beard. He wears a jogging outfit and a cutoff battle jacket festumed with metals and patches patches a la John Voight, and coming home the man is punching the air and doing breath exercises as he merely rolls along. So it's a fourth movie there by the way. That's a character from a fourth movie that they decide to like put in this movie for reasons unbeknownst to us.

Yeah, oh yeah. And like the whole thing of Lorraine falling for him and everything, it's like, okay, yeah, that was an interesting thing. But basically you just catch that as like a side movie that's happening with Lorraine falling in love with Brian, and it's like, okay, I would I like to have seen a little bit more of that as well. There you go, there's that couple's weekend out at the beach type of thing, right, what the fuck? And like purtyd Abney Coleman is just shoved into this mess at one point and I'm like, what why is he here?

What is going on? You know, like with that horrible accent, that horrible outcient. But at least we get to see his ass, So that's a big plus. One and only time we get to see Dabney Coleman's button. Yes, my daughter was like, why is it so white?

That's how we did back then. You laid out, got tan, you know, earn your swim trunks. And yeah, he was. He was very underutilized in this. Oh yeah, I felt kind of bad.

It reminds me of Hot to Trot where he's in it just to be the the villain of the piece. And I've never seen that. Wow. No, but if you said nine to five, then I'm with you. Yeah, it was great.

He's great. He is I mean he's yeah, he's again, he's almost like a character from. The same year, I believe. Sorry, is that right? Is that eighty one?

I think so? If not, it was very soon, very close by. Now that's the movie. Yeah, that real funny film. It is with comedy.

Minds you with comedy. Well that's the thing. I mean you guys mentioned the scene in the restaurant where Barry Mitch Krendle's character gets a nosebleed. I mean, I guess, I guess it was funny, like I don't know, like you know what it reminded me of. It really reminded me of something like like a Bruce al Mighty, that same kind of like comedy in the third person where one person is controlling someone else unbeknownst to them and like under I actually think you guys are right.

I think it is one of the few moments in the movie where there is some like slapsticky comedy, practical comedy, however you want to call it. But I think by including it in the movie, it makes me detest the movie that just more because it knows it can be funny, it knows it can write a scene that has at least some physical humor to it, and the rest of the movie is just oh Dadney Coleman's floating in mid air and twirling and doing three sixties like cool. I mean, I get like, I'm just I don't understand what some of the point of the later parts of the movie are if essentially there is going to be no conclusion or any sort of I don't know, redemptive arc for Chevy Chase's character anything. There's no arc in this movie.

He just ends where he started. And again like, if we're gonna have that be the case, he doesn't need to be the main character. He should have been the secondary character to the lead of the movie, which not saying Patty to Arbenville couldn't have been the lead. But I just don't understand why the movie is written the way that it's written, because Chevy Chase's character is just one note throughout, unlike most of the characters who at least have some depth to them. So in the script, after Chevy, not after Dadney Coleman's character is humiliated, he goes out to the beach.

He goes out to the surf. I believe Lorraine comes out after him, what are you doing? And he walks into the ocean and kills himself, and his tape player is there and she plays it and you can hear part of him saying Martin Scorsese's name again, but it's all slowed down. That's it for him, except that the script is so bad that he does come back at the very very end I think as a mistake. His name is mentioned that he is back with them, but all the stuff of him shooting at Chevy Chase and all that stuff.

No, he's dead in the script, he dies of suicide. He's that's remiliated. Yeah, that's a choice. What a narrative choice that was. I think it works better with him chicken aine out and turning back around.

I kind of like that he just died, though, I was like, wait what when I read that, I'm like, no, no, that can't be weird. But sure enough, Yeah. Without to say if it's me, I actually liked that idea in the script only because it seems like just as mean spirited as the rest of the movie. And that's the thing you know on on Wikipedia, which as I've been told in academia they do not trust. The movie is called a black comedy.

I think if that had happened in the movie, maybe that would be an applicable Yeah, part of the scriptors of the movie. If it had been darker throughout, I think it would have been a little bit more enjoyable as well. Actually, yeah, like have him do some fucked up stuff, you know. If he's a piece of shit, let him actually be a piece of shit. I think maybe the biggest problem is they don't let Chevy Chase be a big enough piece of shit, like really, like you said, Mark, like really go for it, like make us really dislike him as a character.

And it's like the movie should have been the wrong person got Superpowers essentially, right, like what happens when someone what happens when the worst person in your life gets superpowers? That's this movie. That's what it should have been. And you know what, I've never seen a movie like that. Frankly, that's still kind of unminded territory and cock I can't I mean, you know, I'm talking more about the idea of someone getting those powers mid story less.

Zam Yeah, yeah, yeah, even. That's a child, sir, a child. He is the worst child. Well, he's a terrible child to be comes an even worse adult. Even if some of it's not on purpose though, like with the air traffic control stuff, like he doesn't quite have a grasp on what he's doing.

He's thinking things and they happen and they're awful. I mean, bringing down a plane accidentally or something. Yeah yeah, I mean the Medusa touch or whatever. Yeah right right, yeah, so again missed opportunity. We got to talk about the gay bar scene though, whoa.

Yeah, which I'm trying to remember if that was a gay bar in the script or dot, because it just that struck me when I was watching the movie, I was like, Oh, I forgot this wasn't a gay bar. I read the script before I rewatched the film. Yeah, it's an interesting choice, and it definitely is a choice. It gets you know, he's he gets to say and I don't know how many times he said this in movies or on Center Live, the pardon you, the patented pardon you Chevy Chase line. He says it about ten times.

Was walking through the you know, just to make sure the audience knows that his character is not gay. Little bit of gay panic. Big no homo vibes. Yeah, I love it. Hey, everybody, it's eighty one.

He just said that whole thing where he called what's his name, Carrie Grin gay and there was like a lawsuit that was coming out of it. He called him that on the Tomorrow Show with Tom Schneider, I believe. Yeah, So that was during the I can't remember that was during the press for Under the Rainbow or if it was the previous movie, but yeah, he was in trouble about. That famous gay actor. Carrie famous not gay actor.

Got a good taste of the nut gays. Have you seen the Archie show? Yeah, he was very very gay. Him and Randolph Scott were getting up to a lot of stuff. So yeah, yeah, wow.

So when he as soon as he walked in there, I immediately thought of cruising and was just sitting there watching that scene play out. And then when he go he asks Brian do O Murray where the bathroom is says it's down there. So he's got, of course, mill through all the leather daddies again and he stands towards the back of the bar, but he's looking up at his X again and you know, scoping out the Bury situation and all that. And behind him there's a large black man in a cowboy hat jockstrap and I looked at that and I thought, and he kind of obscures him a couple of times do it out of focus and I'm like, is this is that what I'm seeing? So I rewound it and watched it and I'm like, wait a minute, that is that's from cruising, right.

You know, I'm talking to myself and my wife and my daughter are like, I have no idea what you're talking about, right, And I had to go and I had to go to the Yeah, and like, oh my god, total you know, from a year prior that very few people saw. But obviously Ken Shapiro did and threw that in there because he's just looking he's looking like straight at the camera. He's turned sideways but looking at the camera, And I thought, that is bizarre. That is so that's like for me, that kind of made the movie. I am not seeing that this took place in a gay bar in the script.

Well if any and then it doesn't really matter in the movie that it's in a gay bar. Maybe he did that so he could throw that cruising Easter egg in there. Yeah, I really dug that movie, man. I mean, it's there are things in here, like there is the party and everything, but they're talking about a huckster with some sort of device that lets people know if they're compatible and stuff, kind of staying on the whole dating thing, because I think this might have been a critique at one point about the dating scene in the early eighties, that whole thing with what you're talking about with the eyes looking around like nobody's with the right partner, right, That feels a little like that. But and then Max or not Max Mark being the self help guru.

I mean, I'm sure he was channeling and least five different self help gurus that were out at this point, Like I called them Doctor Phil, I mean doctor He's basically the nineteen eighty one version of. Doctor Phil Tony Robbins type. Oh Jesus, my favor stand him, cannot stand that. He always reminds me of the actor I believe the actor's name is Brian Thompson, the one from The X Files and Mortal Kombat, who, like you know, the one who tries to convince people of something that he's not. Oh wait, I guess they both do that.

Never mind, I think to your point, though, Mike, the the thing about the movie, I mean feeling disjointed. I mean like there are, like you said, there are ideas here that could have been gone down different avenues that would have yielded a better movie, even a slightly better Yeah. I mean again, like, what are the modern problems that he has in this movie that he's not creating for himself? Is my question. All of the modern problems that he has are because he's put himself in that position.

His girlfriend leaves him because he's a fucking creep and can't let her have a modicum of privacy to herself. Is that a modern problem as much as one that you're creating for yourself, Like. They don't get it. I don't get guys who are so jealous of their girlfriends and like he especially because he's he's jealous of her having dinner with other men. But they're all people that are sellers for the store that she works at, so it's like all work related.

I'm like, yeah, you're a fucking psychopath, dude, if you're having these problems. Are you that insecure about yourself? Yes, the answer is yes. But and in the movie, in the script, it kind of ends with like a little bit of like a self help type of thing with him and Darta and Darcy all together, Like the whole scene of them, the two of them up on the turret of the house during the storm and all that stuff or if there is a storm, I don't remember, but like that is the three of them together and her basically Darita basically saying what is your problem? And it's like digging deep into it until he's like, I can't love anybody, and it's because I don't trust anybody.

It's just like go through all this stuff and then finally like has a literally a psychological breakthrough with Darcy and that's why they're back together at the end in the movie. The Max that's in the movie, he doesn't deserve for at the end. He never has that breakthrough. It's not like the powers are the evil that's inside of him. It was a flawed, like you said, flawed at the beginning, flawed at the end.

If anything, he's worse because he's getting his bad behavior is being reinforced as being a good thing. It's like, what why again? I mean again, imagine if someone who was terrible got something that made them even worse and allowed them to be terrible without even having to show that they're doing it. Because that's the other thing Max, Like, if Max had never said he was doing any of this, he could just walk around doing this all the time and nobody would be the wiser. Uh yeah, you can go rob a bank, make money fly out of the vault, you know.

And again, like there's the one scene in the movie that I thought was an interesting conceit and I think it you know again, there's another movie kind of hiding in here that you could go to is the scene where he's making his girlfriend come without doing anything that. Shit was guilty about it? Yeah, yeah, why fess up. I don't understand that. And that wasn't me, it was you.

It was you, Like it was you. What the hell, bro? You were just using your mind? Yeah, which for me, like that is a hilarious conceit. That's a great starting point for another story, is what if this guy got the ability to just do that to everybody and he could control what would that mean for that person?

And how could he take advantage of it? No? Right? And yet here they just don't give a shit, like they're just like, oh, and he so feel so bad? Why does he feel bad?

I mean he's making her orgasm remotely, I see. I don't see how that's a problem, especially if he's able to do it, if they're not in the same room, if he could just be like, oh, we're on the telephone and oh you're coming through the phone line, Like why is that not something that this movie did at least once, Like, I don't under I just I don't understand why this movie didn't realize what it had. And I think the other thing, and we've kind of mentioned it, or Yola Bult just alluded to it. We're supposed to believe one of the best looking men of the early eighties is going to have a hard time finding another person to be with fuck you movie. It's at least he doesn't have giant fake teeth in this, like he doesn't hot to trot, But Jemmy Chase is a good looking guy.

We've kind of already established this a lot the last couple episodes we've done, especially with something like foul Play. We're supposed to believe that this guy's gonna have a hard time moving on finding someone else that he's getting hung like, give me a break. We also have seen that this guy has an ex wife who who, by the way, doesn't hate him, So did you become an asshole? In real one of this movie? And up until this point he's been somewhat not detestable because she seems to not dislike him enough to like have distance herself from him completely like most ex wives and ex husbands do.

Yeah, he's not the kind of guy that you want to stick around and oh yeah we hang out one morny not working or doing other things Like, no, I would stay well away from this guy, and what why are they not together anymore? Is it because he's a jealous asshole? But probably what? The movie doesn't make that clear, and like that one line of dialogue would have helped, Yeah, because it really feels like he comes into the first act of this movie with someone who already still is going to bat for him, when this character doesn't deserve anyone going to bat for him at all. She tells him that he might get lucky because she's feeling horny.

I'm like, oh wow, okay, he was still having some of that, all right, but instead she latches onto Brian Doyle Murray and yeah, Brian Doha Murray love to see this guy. Really like this guy. He's great, but shouldn't have been in this movie. No, because why is he living at the Psycho House? Right?

I had to go and look. I was like, that is the psych but what is it? What did you cover just move it from their back lot to like somewhere else. I think it was a recreation, but yeah, that was bizarre. And don't they even show it in black and white?

At first? Yeah, when he first looks up at it, it is the Psycho House, and then it changes that that was like again one of those Yeah, why is he seen it that way? Why so he's obviously going downhill at this point, but up to then there had I missed it or they missed it, because why did he see it that way? Why is he so withdrawn and weird? And I don't know.

It's like his character took a turn, but they never really showed when that turn happened at least or I missed it. Maybe the expectation is once they go out to the house, then he is possessed by a deep for no reason. Off screen it happened. Well, don't you love what things are taking care of off screen? I'm a huge fan of characters dying off screen.

People dying, I mean, whole plot points taking place off screen. I'm a huge fan. I just rewatched Prometheus in Covenant, so I must be a huge fan of those kinds of things. I don't understand why you allude to things in this movie that you're not gonna show. And I don't know why they just didn't show certain things in this movie show us more of Max just acting like an asshole, because he more or less alludes to it too.

He's always alluding to it, even when he's around Patty to Arbyville. He's not that bad, but the way that he thinks about himself and the way that she describes him would lead me to believe he was kind of like a tyrant, the way that he followed her. But we're not. I mean, we're seeing it, but we're only seeing it now because he has the powers that he's following her to fuck with her date. That's really it.

We don't watch him following her at all throughout the movie. He's following her because all of a sudden she has someone else and they're just broken up too. The movie opens with her leaving a message on his machine saying I'm not gonna be here when you're home, and then she comes home and feels bad that she didn't say goodbye, like what he was giving who It's like I said, there's like a massive disconnect in this movie with the way the character is being portrayed actually through his actions and the way he's being characterized by the actions that he's taking and the way he's talking, because he talks to himself a lot, and he talks to a man in at one point, and he exposition dumps to the mannequin what's going on, which is so just unbelievably lazy.

It's hard. It's it's hard to believe that this movie just messes it. It fucking walks into it at every turn, just every turn it takes is the wrong choice. That freak out moment or the psychout moment in the trailer where it's like this is Max's girlfriend and it's him kissing the mannequin, I'm like, uh what, and like this should have been like I can't remember if he has his powers at that point, but I was kind of hoping like maybe that would have played into it, you know, But no, no, no Oh. It also takes like twenty five minutes for him to get his powers too, yep, which is like shocking to me for an hour and a half movie that it takes yea the entire first the climax of the first act is him getting the powers.

Like, again, if the character had been interesting to follow, I don't think we'd have a problem spending twenty five minutes with Chevy Chase walking around being Chevy Chase in the early eighties New York. But that's not it. Also, his short game is on point in this movie. He's wearing some very revealing short boy hello nine. Yeah, my god, Chevy Chase.

I mean, look, he's a tall guy, so he could rock it. But those shorts are one scene he's playing basketball in shorts, and then the other scene when we meet Brian Doyle Murray is like Jean shorts on. Wow, that's all I can say. Wow, No acid Chevy Chase, though, only Dadney Coleman, which is a weird thing. This is a weird piece of IMDb trivia.

Damney Coleman's only nude scene. Okay, great, all right, thank you. Yeah, I was wondering what his only nude scene was. And we found it. Yes, thank goodness.

All because of the Chasing Chevy Chase podcast. Which almost you know, we talked a while ago Chris about doing the Damney Coleman cast, but. It happened, so we'd be watching Hot to Trot instead. We'd be watching Modern Problems as part of that as well. Though.

Yeah, that's fair, especially as we're. Like this week we are talking about Danney Colem's only nude scene this week exclusively on the Dabney Coleman Cast. We talked to Dabney about what it was like because in this world Dabney is joining us every episode, and we're breaking down his entire career movie by movie, TV show by TV show. Yeah, that's how people into that. Oh god, Dabney is Dannie loves us.

Man. You're on a first name basis with it. Oh well, of course he calls me all the time, Mike, Mike, what do we What are we gonna do? The next thing? I really want to talk about Buffalo Bill.

Oh, don't worry, Dabney. We'll get there. We'll get there. I like this world better than this world that we're doing Chevy Chase movies. At least with this I have a new friend in Dabney Coleman.

So he's old, but at least he's you know, spry, and he likes to talk on the phone and everything. It's pretty good. It's not the reality where your other two friends and Lamb drug into this nonsense of a movie. Exactly. There's no defense here of this movie like this.

This is one of the worst comedies I've ever seen. I don't I don't think I'm speaking broadly, Chris. This is prime Coleman territory too. To your point nine to five nineteen eighty modern problems nineteen eighty one, could see nineteen eighty two, War Games nineteen eighty three. This is a golden period of Coleman.

We are in the Coleman sans at this moment, but yet here we are talking about this from the Chevy Chase point of view. The right point of view. Clear A. Yes, yes, I know Cloak and Dagger's coming up as well. But Buffalo bills right around the corner.

A six whole episodes. Oh yeah, well, of course. It wasn't that eighty seven. He was in what was he in? In eighty seven?

He was in something big in eighty seven? Uh boy, not hot to try? That was eighty eight. Pragnantragnets an Acroyd. I love that.

I love that movie. I am. I wish we were doing the Dabney Coleman cast just so I could talk about that movie again. Yes, though, we will be talking about The Man with One Red Shoe on your May series all about Francis Weerber films. So Dabney cast as happening, but it's happening.

What we'll do is we'll actually just colllate all the times we talked about him into a Dabney caste. We'll put new, new and old bumpers at the end. This is an episode that we did twenty twenty four. Yeah, and modern problems And that's the Dabney cast is just every time we talk about him, just put together into one show. Oh yeah, we don't have to do any extra work.

We would never watch this again, is my package? Yes? Yeah, God, it's a it's a weirding way media clip show is what that is? A go Jesus and see speaking of clip shows and the Groove too, this movie is so much And I rewatched Groove two just to just to give myself an idea of the levels of comedy that these two films are operating at. This makes The Groove Tube look like Macbeth.

It makes The Groove Tube look like one of the greatest films ever put to celluloid. It's shocking how few laughs there are in this movie compared to even something like The Groove Tube. And I think that just speaks to maybe Ken Shapiro's abilities as a writer were more suited towards an SNL short form variety, because again we've kind of mentioned some of this movie does feel like certain other things just kind of mashed together, which I mean sketch comedy movies are kind of a bunch of other things matched together, just with no through line. We're scraping real hard now, the bottom of the barrel starting to break down as we scrape. Yeah, I guess starting with you Begley.

Final thoughts on modern problems as we continue our look at Chevy Chase's filmography. Now, I wish I had enjoyed it more. What about you, Mike, Yeah, my memories of this film were a lot more fond than this. Though. I am actively looking for this tube song on some sort of media other than just ripping it from YouTube, because I dug the theme song quite a bit, pretty good theme which I had the forty five surprise.

I didn't buy the forty five when I was younger. So yeah, like I said, wish it was better. Yeah, I mean, I'm with you all. I'd seen the previews for this, I mean I mentioned that so many times, and I had heard it was not great. I did not expect I would be watching it post seeing Ken Shapiro's other thing coincidentally, but yeah, this is uh, well under the Rainbow it was what it was, dirty work, well at least had some funny moment this movie.

I think for me so far, this is the low point of the podcast so far in terms of just the way chevy Chase is being used any amount of comedy. This is not a movie. I think any one of us would suggest anybody who's not doing something like this, which is being a completionist about Chevy Chase, I wouldn't suggest to track this down. And it's not easy to find either. You can rent it on YouTube, but that's about it.

It's not necessarily streaming anywhere. I don't think it's not even on a two B or anything, which is shocking. So, yeah, is there not a deluxe shelt Factory Blu ray with all the delegd scenes. Be four K with a kench hero commentary? Oh, Ken Shapiro rip.

I mean so many of these people rip to the he and one of the Odler writers are gone. I think Arthur Sellers might still be around. And that's about it. So but speaking of this being the low point, I think that on the next episode of the Chasing Chevy Chase podcast we're gonna be talking about possibly one of the high points. We're gonna go straight from the valley all the way to the peak with a look at nineteen eighty threes.

It's a little film. You might have heard of it National Lampoon's Vacation, which I mean, again, if memory serves me right, it's a funny movie with good bits. I maybe maybe wouldn't it be a shame if just we misremember all these movie because I don't think that's going to be the case with the next one. But I remember this being good boy, it is good. Yeah, I had to look.

I had to look last night. I'm like, what's next? I need a peek. You need a breather from this? Yeahk god, we're just about to break.

Thank god. Well, it's been three episodes in a row that haven't necessarily been I mean, I enjoyed Dirty Work more than y'all, and I was kind of the one who made the case for it, so I understand that. But Under the Rainbow was not was was a not a great entry into this podcast either, fortunately, But I think we're at least going to get vacation. I don't know about Deal of the Century, but we'll have at least Fletch to follow that up pretty quickly after that, so at least we'll have, you know, a good one. A reprieve as it were going into a going into the next episode.

So until then, where can people find you and all the things that you work on? Mark Begley, you can find me at Wake Up Heavy on all social media, wickipavy dot com and Weirdinwaymedia dot com for my two shows What About You. Mike White, you. Can find me enjoying sunsets from my office window, Roots the book not the movie, Mark Mister Martin Scorcissy, and collecting my two hundred dollars before passing go All at Weirdingwaymedia dot com. I can't about you, Chris, I can't even follow that up.

Yeah, Weirdingwaymedia dot Com is where you can go to find everything that I work on, including collaborative shows with Mike White, Father Malone, and Mike White and Father Malone, And well, only one thing can't be found at Weirdingwaymedia dot com. That can be found over at the Projection Boots Patreon or the culture Cast Patreon. If you were a ten dollars subscriber on either of those, you get access to ranking on Bond, a show where Richard had him, Mike White and I talk about Bond once a month. Yes, it's worth listening to, and if you're not part of our patret, go get involved now, because we're finally starting to get into the movies that people probably want us to talk about less the ones that we're just having to talk about.

Sounds kind of like this podcast until then, We'll like, rate, and review the show wherever you get it, more than likely iTunes. It helps us out immensely and helps us find our audience, and as always, we'll catch you on the next episode.