As part of my old job I was allowed all of the free DVD's I could handle. At one point I had over 500. I am in the midst of selling a lot of them and it is a painful process. I had a solid pile of about 100 that I wanted to sell. 'Drop Dead Fred' was at the top of the pile. I had never watched the movie and for some reason, last night, it was calling to me. I am really glad I decided to watch it and remove it from the doomed pile.
On the surface this is one of those early 90's kids movies that actually is not really intended for kids. Do you remember that movie with Martin Short? 'Clifford'? It is the same idea. It is a style of film making that is not utilized nearly enough. The movie is crewed and lewd and almost perfect. Fred rules! I love the imaginary friend idea and I think it was depicted in perfect absurdity.
The plot is simple but far from stale in the way it is presented. Girl has crappy life, remembers childhood imaginary friend and then said imaginary friend comes back into girl's life and wreaks havoc. The film's colorful and quirky nature invigorates the plot 200%. It is also really heartfelt and gives you a warm mushy feeling at the end which honestly is something that we all need to experience every now and again seeing as we live is such a cruel and depressing world full of heartless and blood thirsty ingrates.
Underneath the comical veneer is something else- something much darker and disturbing. There is something very psychological about this film. Fred, the imaginary friend, is ID through and through. I would go as far to say that this film should be shown in PSY100 classes to demonstrate the ID, EGO and SUPER EGO and how they work. Although the film is comical I think the plot plays with the idea of mental illness a lot. I will make the argument that Lizzy suffers from Schizophrenia and this film is a depiction of her battle with the illness.
I am told that a remake is in the works and that British Comedian Russell Brand is set to play Fred. He is getting a lot of flack on both his message board and this message board as well. Part of me, as Any fan of this movie would, agrees that it is near perfect and a remake is pointless- however if I had one complaint it is that the film does not look all that great (with the exception of Phoebe Cates). Visually, the film is kind of dull. I think it would be invigorating to see the film done with more in terms of effects. And in Russell Brand's defense, have we really seen enough of his work to discriminate against him and know that he will ruin a remake? I HATED 'Forgetting Sara Marshall' but Russell Brand really made it's excruciating length and general blandness slightly more bearable.
On the surface this is one of those early 90's kids movies that actually is not really intended for kids. Do you remember that movie with Martin Short? 'Clifford'? It is the same idea. It is a style of film making that is not utilized nearly enough. The movie is crewed and lewd and almost perfect. Fred rules! I love the imaginary friend idea and I think it was depicted in perfect absurdity.
The plot is simple but far from stale in the way it is presented. Girl has crappy life, remembers childhood imaginary friend and then said imaginary friend comes back into girl's life and wreaks havoc. The film's colorful and quirky nature invigorates the plot 200%. It is also really heartfelt and gives you a warm mushy feeling at the end which honestly is something that we all need to experience every now and again seeing as we live is such a cruel and depressing world full of heartless and blood thirsty ingrates.
Underneath the comical veneer is something else- something much darker and disturbing. There is something very psychological about this film. Fred, the imaginary friend, is ID through and through. I would go as far to say that this film should be shown in PSY100 classes to demonstrate the ID, EGO and SUPER EGO and how they work. Although the film is comical I think the plot plays with the idea of mental illness a lot. I will make the argument that Lizzy suffers from Schizophrenia and this film is a depiction of her battle with the illness.
I am told that a remake is in the works and that British Comedian Russell Brand is set to play Fred. He is getting a lot of flack on both his message board and this message board as well. Part of me, as Any fan of this movie would, agrees that it is near perfect and a remake is pointless- however if I had one complaint it is that the film does not look all that great (with the exception of Phoebe Cates). Visually, the film is kind of dull. I think it would be invigorating to see the film done with more in terms of effects. And in Russell Brand's defense, have we really seen enough of his work to discriminate against him and know that he will ruin a remake? I HATED 'Forgetting Sara Marshall' but Russell Brand really made it's excruciating length and general blandness slightly more bearable.