User Reviews

THIS is the film Jerry Lewis should have made his min-comeback with instead of the mawkish "Hardly Working". Yes, there isn't much of a story here, but like "The Bellboy" the gags for the most part are really pretty funny. The opening title sequence may contain Jerry's best moment in the film as he tries to cross a highly polished floor. Then listen what happens when the title card of the film's composer comes up. The scene where Jerry plays a cop and pulls over a overweight speeder is also one of his funniest in years. Can't argue this is a great film, but it IS funny and that's something Jerry had not been since at least "The Big Mouth" back in 1967. The other films Jerry made around this time were either just terrible ("Slapstick Encounters") or featured more of his dramatic side ("KIng of Comedy", "Funny Bones"). This film is just plain funny and its too bad it never got a wide theatrical release.

The best way I can describe "Cracking Up" is it is a medium effort by Lewis, not his worst but not his best either. This Lewis film is worlds above "The Big Mouth" for example. The best and funniest sequences are the ones in which Foster Brooks and Zane Busby appear in. In fact, Zane Busby's scenes are among the funniest (and most annoying) in the entire picture. The annoying part of them is what makes them so darn funny. I wish Foster Brooks had more screen time than he does here but what he does with what he has to work with is very very funny. Lewis's main problem in this film is that he milks a gag on far longer than it is funny. This was not so much the case in many of Lewis's earlier films especially ones not written or directed by lewis himself. Lewis can be very very funny as his earlier pictures (after Martin) indicate and Lewis has a wild and fertile comic imagination that has served him pretty well. But as usual when Lewis writes and directs for Lewis, Lewis the editor does not know when to say "Cut!" and often scenes drag on far too long than they need be. I consider Jerry Lewis a true comic genius, much better than Chaplin, but not quite as good as Buster Keaton whose comedies in my opinion are very very underrated.

Jerry Lewis has always been one of the most awesomely gifted comedians in the business. He can make you laugh so hard, your ribs hurt. He can also bore (and embarrass) the snot out of you. This movie is, truthfully, uneven. The first ten minutes, as the poor schnook tries merely to sit down in a doctor's office, are brilliant, screamingly funny. Other bits (there really isn't much of a plot) traverse a range from lying there like iron ingots to surreally jaw-dropping. The French aren't necessarily crazy. The highs in this movie soar, the lows strain to reach the curb. Welcome to a Jerry Lewis movie. If you can't handle that, this isn't for you.

The final Lewis directed opus is his finest. He has never been funnier or more inventive. In the opening sequence, Jerry gets every laugh possible with vinyl. Of course the sequence goes on much too long, but that is exactly what you expect from Jerry. The French costume sketch is very clever. The best gag sequence in the film concerns the waitress and her listing of salad dresssings. I laugh every time I think of this sequence. Most people consider "The Nutty Professor" to be the best Lewis film, but this one is much more fun. I also recommend the first Lewis directed film, "The Bellboy", where Lewis is out to prove that he is a worthy writer-director.

I'd like to start by saying I usually enjoy the movies that comedians make as they get older, but everyone seems to pan. I like the later Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, and even the Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu. Most of those comedian's "crap" is ten times more clever than the garbage they come out with now.

I think this movie had a lot of potential, but didn't quite get there. It's a sketch movie, which Jerry Lewis successfully pulled off with his directorial debut "The Bellboy," but the plot in this is too thin, even for a sketch movie.

There are quite a few good gags, but a lot of bad ones too. It could be the "cheapness" of the film too, but the over the top style that makes Jerry, Jerry, is too much here.

I was really surprised by the amount of people who reviewed this movie and loved it. Most seem to put it above "Hardly Working," which I disagree with.

I was also disappointed that there was some language in this one. I say this mostly because I can imagine being a parent and showing this to a kid who grew up watching Jerry Lewis movies and hearing him say, "shit," and "Christ all mighty."

Not necessary, and particularly odd since he's against that sort of thing in comedy films. I've seen him complain a number of times about modern comedians who swear too much. I know he talks like that in real life, but that's another place. There are just some gags in here that are beneath his caliber.

I would recommend this movie only to the die-hard Jerry Lewis fans, of which I am one, but don't be surprised if it's not what you had hoped.

Jerry's finally lost it.

I knew he was going downhill with "Hardly Working", which left him just that. But with "Cracking Up", he finds himself stuck with a movie that is so loud, so shrill and so in-your-face that laughing at it is not an option. You just want to analyze it to death.

As an all-around crackpot, Jerry sees a psychiatrist (Edelman) to try and get to the bottom of why he is in such sad shape.

The vignettes, when not repetitive, are just plain dumb. See, one part has him trying to quit smoking, so he goes to seek help. Now, whenever he lights up, Dick Butkus pops out of nowhere and belts him one. He shows up out of the bushes, in a buffet line, as a statue, etc. Cute at the beginning, but after the eleventh or twelfth time, it gets kind of annoying.

There is a bit part for Sammy Davis Jr. but his best role is in an out-take at the end where Jerry hoists him up and announces, "I'd like to thank the NAACP for this award...."

So, you see, Jerry can be funny. He used to be funny and there are times when he still has funniness within his grasp. But not here.

Three stars from me. Eight stars if you're a rabid fan. Ten stars if you're reading this in France.

In Smorgasbord Jerry Lewis returns to the comedian that was top box office in the late Fifties and early Sixties, those days when he was guaranteed money in the bank for Paramount Pictures. With some old faces and new in it, Smorgasbord gives a bit of the Lewis of old in a series of comedy vignettes.

It's all hung together by the plot premise of Jerry the klutz visiting psychiatrist Herb Edelman to find a cure for the disastrous life he's been leading up to that point. After that we get a series of skits, some admittedly better than others involving Jerry who seems to have had the wrong name, it should have been Jonah.

An old face in drag has Milton Berle sounding sexy with Ruta Lee's voice, but looking like Milton. Long time Lewis friend Sammy Davis Jr. appears as himself and regrets entrusting Lewis with his car.

My favorite two are a pair of female comedians Zane Buzby who has a nasal Brooklyn accent and a voice you would kill her for playing a waitress and Donna Ponterotto playing a stewardess in a hilarious skit about Lewis taking a trip on a budget airline to London. In that same skit is Foster Brooks as a drunken airline pilot. This was around the time Freddy Laker was offering budget trips on a short lived airline of his own.

Sad that Jerry's box office days had passed. Smorgasbord could easily have fitted neatly in with The Patsy and Cinderfella in those days.

Jerry Lewis was primarily a stand-up comedian. He got his start on the stage and returned night clubs and shows late in life. In between, he performed on radio and later TV. He made a significant number of films in his career, when he had a partner (Dean Martin) or one of several very good co-stars.

Stand-up comics need a straight man and/or good co-star in movies, to be very good. Otherwise, they tend to drift and play to the camera. With partners, they learn to play to the co-star and not the camera. So, they appear in and are enmeshed in the story, where stand-up comics play to the audience. That works very well on the stage, and is necessary with live audiences, even somewhat in stage plays. But playing to the audience in films is deadly. It rarely works, and most of the time it kills a movie. That's why it is seldom seen in movies.

Once in a while in their movies, one or the other of Martin or Lewis might do an aside to the camera in a scene. They still weren't that good or funny. Groucho Marx and the brothers were known to talk to the camera - but their routines and humor were intentionally vaudeville done for the movies, and it worked. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby sort of capitalized on that technique in their road show films. Watching any one of them again these many years after seeing them on early TV, I'm not so sure that those scenes added to the comedy, or that they didn't diminish it some even in their day with their audiences. But, producers, directors and performers have all known that to make films with comical stories, the humor has got to be among the players,. Otherwise the story is diminished or lost and the film comes across as vaudeville or a series of sketches. And, that's not what audiences have wanted most in comedies - since way before the middle of the 20th century.

So, why all this discussion about that now? Because, not having seen the Jerry Lewis movie, "Cracking Up" before now, on DVD, I was surprised that it would be so vaudevillian and bad. One small skit and scene alone toward the end gave me a chuckle. But that's all, and it tried my patience to sit through this whole thing This was nothing more than a bunch of skits tied together, in which Lewis tries to be funny. But, he's not. And, what clinches it as a really bad comedy film in his every two out of three skits, at least, in which he grimaces, or looks forlorn or otherwise purposefully and intentionally looks at the camera. It's as if to say to the audience, "see what I mean?" or, "there it goes again," or such. Well, duh, Jerry, it's just not at all funny. Nor are the pratfalls, slips, trips, drops, falls, head-bangs or anything else. Those things can still be very funny in good comedies, when they happen among or with people in the story. But not in solo appearances in sketches that are purposely done for the audience.

Now, I saw something of cut-outs as the credits ran at the end, and one showed Lewis and Sammy Davis Jr. Laughing. They probably did have fun making the film. But the humor wasn't caught on the celluloid. No, this is a real turkey of a film. I don't think many people would care for this film at all - and most probably wouldn't last past the first 30 minutes. It's too bad. After the mid-1960s, with just a couple of exceptions, Jerry Lewis was very good on stage and in TV shows and appearances. But most of his films after that were not very good.

This is a sloppy mess of a comedy, with barely a plot to speak of, yet it contains some of the funniest bits Mr. Lewis has ever committed to film. It's one helluva lot better than the previous movie, "Hardly Working" which got a big theatrical release. It is the "Test Market Audience Mentality" that kept this excellent movie from getting a big-screen release in the U.S. "Cracking Up" keeps moving--if one gag fails, don't worry because there will be another, funnier one right on top of it. This overlooked gem has no less a fan than Martin Scorsese, who particularly loved the waxy floor opening credits sequence.

Cracking Up, also known as Smorgasbord, is a Jerry Lewis Production. Written, directed, and starring Jerry Lewis. with some fun co-stars: Sammy Davis, Milton Berle, Herb Edelman (he was Stanley, How Could You? on Golden Girls) and more. Dick Butkus (chicago bears). Jerry plays numerous characters, and spends the first ten minutes trying to off himself. so he visits his psychiatrist (Edelman), and the events leading up to now are shown in flashback. all starring ....Jerry Lewis. sight gags, much twisting and turning a clever phrase, and even a couple dirty jokes where you really have to pay attention to catch them. his visit to the doc seems to be an excuse to staple all these vaudeville - style vignettes together. Dingle syndrome. Carper's Waindowner Leak. HAH! some of the gags work, some don't. like every jerry lewis film. co-written with Bill Richmond. They made tons of stuff together.

Warren Nefron (Jerry Lewis) struggles to kill himself. After many failures, he goes to a psychiatrist.

The start is completely ridiculous but I was with it. I'm going with it hoping for more craziness. Then it turns into some sort of vignette show. It serves no purpose to go back into history. The psychiatrist don't add that much. Warren should be trying to kill himself in more and more ridiculous ways. The joke should be him failing and causing mayhem to everybody else. The movie introduces something and turns it into a mess. It's a series of wacky skits that don't really connect to each other or with the audience.

The quality of Jerry's films has been somewhat erratic (some might consider this an understatement), some great, some awful. By 1983, when Jerry made this movie, the last film he directed, many people had written him off, I think. In any event, the movie escaped my attention when it came out. I came across it in a movie rental store when I needed a number of movies to get me through a post-operation recovery when I was stuck at home sometime in early '90s. I put it into the VCR and proceeded to be amazed. I still have vivid memories of some of the surreal sets and sketches. I consider this film to be Jerry's bid to rival the best of Peter Sellers.

I noticed that one of the reviewers referred to this film as an 'overlooked gem'. I'd beg to differ...

So, is "Cracking Up" funny? Yep--for about 2 minutes. That's about the length of the airplane skit. It's VERY funny and highly original but hardly makes it worth sitting through this mess!! I am serious when I say this is one of the only movies I have seen that made me physically ill. The one and only time in my life I had a migraine occurred as I watched this and I know it was the fault of the movie!! For example, the movie begins as Lewis enters a therapist's office and spends the next 75 minutes slipping on the floor and sliding off the vinyl furniture. Okay, maybe it only lasted 30 minutes--but it seemed like it would go on forever. THEN, later in the film he repeated this sequence AGAIN!!!! My head felt like it was ready to explode!! Somebody needed to tell this man to STOP! Fortunately for the studio, this film was not released since they knew it was a bomb and it was later released on cable and video. For this, someone needs to pay! If you LIKE pain and want to see other Jerry Lewis monstrosities, see most of his flicks after his breakup with Dean Martin (particularly Slapstick of Another Kind) and avoid The King of Comedy (where Lewis did an excellent job playing it straight).

PS--Lewis could make very good film and very, very bad ones. I have no axe to grind here...but this one is probably his worst...or very close to it.

Cracking Up (1983)

1/2 (out of 4)

Jerry Lewis wrote, produced and directs this film where he also stars as a nerd who wants to commit suicide for his various problems. He ends up going to Dr. Pletchick (Herb Edelman) who tries to cure him of his dumbness.

For his 90th birthday Mr. Lewis appeared on Turner Classic Movies to discuss various films and I must admit that I was a little shocked that they were showing this picture. In his introduction Lewis talked about the constant pain he is in from various falls that he did to get a laugh throughout his career. Lewis was in a lot of pain while making this movie and it's rather sad that he did so many physical things here because the end result is quite horrible and it certainly wasn't worth the pain he had to go through.

I'm not going to sit here and say that I never laughed because that would be a lie. There were a couple segments that had a couple laughs but the majority of the film is just a complete misfire. It really does seem as if Lewis was sitting around drinking with friends and coming up with stuff they thought were funny in their drunken minds. On film it just doesn't work. The opening sequence has Lewis walking into a hotel to kill himself. He has many objects to do so and we see him fail at doing it. The next scene is a very long sequence where he's trying to get into the doctor's office but keeps sliding and falling everywhere.

There's a lot of physical humor like this where Lewis is trying to recapture his earlier days but it just doesn't work. There are so many awful moments here that you honestly can't blame anyone but Lewis. Naturally comedy is a subjective thing but I doubt even the French would laugh at this film. There are many cameos throughout including Milton Berle dressed in drag, Sammy Davis, Jr. playing himself and Dick Butkus. As for Lewis, he plays several characters here but all the effort was really for nothing because the film is rather embarrassing.

This film was on HBO a lot when I was a kid in high school. Oddly enough I have never seen it from beginning to end until today. Thank you to the Warner Archive, I finally have this 'lost' film on DVD. Not much of a plot here other than the main character Warren visiting his psychiatrist. But the laughs and gags come very rapidly. A ton of skits, loosely linked together with some great running gags. Even though I love this movie, I readily admit that half of these gags are misses and some run too long. Lewis is brilliant in this film, showing off physical comedy along with a fantastic dance number. Watch it, give it a chance. I'd be surprised if you do not laugh!

Cracking Up is one of my favorite movies.....OK, I might have a weird sense of humor... but the first time I saw it, I laughed so hard my side hurt. I bought the movie, and occasionally get it out and watch it again just to get a good laugh.

several parts I like are the Restaurant scene, the waitress when she takes his order, it's hysterical. I'd love to do that to someone sometime.

I also love the scene with the guru on the operating table, so funny.

And the airplane scene..... "chef surprise....you'll love it" it makes me laugh just writing this.

If you haven't seen this movie, get your hands on a copy and watch it.

Director: Jerry Lewis Writers: Jerry Lewis, Bill Richmond Stars: Jerry Lewis, Milton Berle, Sammy Davis Jr. , Zane Buzby, ,Milton Berle, Foster Brooks, Dick Butkus

Jerry Lewis reprises his previous movie persona, this time as Warren Nefron, a man unable to successfully kill himself, while Herb Edelman is Dr. Jonas Pletchick, the psychiatrist out to cure him of his failure, in this Jerry's signature ,absolutely hilarious slapstick comedy.

It's so clear to see how he influence modern comedian Jim Carrey it's uncanny . Many of Lewis' past routines crop up again through the device of flashbacks, as he sits in the doctor's office and remembers vignettes from his past. It was only released theatrically overseas under its original title, Smorgasboard. The film was released in France. As usual, the French love his humor and flocked to see this film when it was first released.

It's a bizarre, nearly avant-garde exercise in stringing together gags and, then of course, pushing those gags to surreal excess. I found the 'Smorgasbord' to be extremely hilarious and really showcase Jerry's brilliance as a writer and comedic actor.

Some of the best scenes were ; Jerry witnesses a bank robbery. The head crook (also played by Jerry) notices the bank's security cameras. The criminals become obsessed with the security cameras and perform an elaborate dance routine in front of them. The police arrive and join the dance. Another hilarious scene his shrink tells Lewis "He's playing with half deck"; "He doesn't have both oars in the water";"You've made too many Swan dives into empty pools"! Smorgasbord the last feature film written and directed by Jerry Lewis turns out to be one of his best comedic films . 9/10

This movie was one of Jerry Lewis's best in my opinion. I really think he is a good actor, director, writer, etc. and this movie definitely showed it. Lewis played a troubled man seemed to be cursed with bad luck. He showed off his talent by playing multiple characters, expressing the goofs that have happened during the course of his life. Must see this movie, it was awesome!

The low rating of the movie may be misleading, the demographic show that this is a love it or hate it movie. 10 got the most votes, but lots of other votes from 1 to 9. The average is actually 6, only the weighted average pulls it down to 4. If you like slapstick comedies, I can only suggest you run see this movie. I'd rate it as one of the most funniest I've ever seen. The movie certainly lacks any sort of plot and is very chaotic. Its more a collection of Jerry Lewis thrown from one funny scene, into the other. To give an example: In one scene he tries to commit suicide by driving off a hill out in the middle of nowhere. The car gets stuck right at the edge and won't budge. So Jerry gets out, opens the trunk, and pours petrol all over him. Then he frantically looks for matches, only to realise he doesn't have any. If you can picture Jerry's face and body language throughout the whole seen and find that funny, you should really see this movie. I won't describe anymore scenes, as with every slapstick comedy, once you know the gag it's not as funny anymore. However, if you need a good plot and can't laugh out loud at slapstick comedies, you should maybe pass on that one. Or get yourself a better sense of humour...

Let me tell ya, it doesn't matter what part of Smorgasbord, I start watching again, I'm guaranteed laughs. That's what great about this movie, you don't know where Jerry will take it next. This is slapstick at it's zaniest. If you loved Hardly Working you're gonna split your sides here. Like our hapless bumbling idiot Bo, in Hardly Working, Lewis plays another klutz, Warren Nefflon, a necrophiliac, a walking hazard, a guy who constantly fears the negative. He can't even get across the overly shiny floor of his psychiatrist's office, as he manages to slip over, but can't manage to get himself back up, without going over again, and again, and again. Or is this just Warren's negative thinking, a moral attached, "If you think negative you'll be negative". The cliché there in the who side splitting movie. Jerry's doctor, (Milton Berle, perfect) is at a loss, he evidently shows, face to camera, rolling his eyes, shaking his head. Warren has tried to kill himself a couple of times, the first one trying to hang him himself from a ceiling fan, you gotta see, another before he's about to drive off a cliff, he mouths to the camera, "Goodbye", only the car then stalls on the mountain top, so he exits to get some petrol, only he didn't leave the handbrake. Another failed costly suicide. We too Jerry playing many characters, all idiots, the bank stickup that becomes a dance routine, I loved as much as I love my Mexican. And also we have a loud annoying voice of a waitress, who likes to be methodical when describing the menu, or any other things, which she does through other characters, who unfortunately have the same loud nagging voice, someone to answer to, for causing tinetus of the ears I imagine. May'be she has a personality disorder, but with the same obsessive compulsiveness, that makes her such a hoot. You'll be choking with laughs in the restaurant scene. But before I go, I just have to mention, Jolly Fat Wee Hawkins airlines. At the advice of his shrink, Jerry travels this incredibly cheap flight, that doesn't have second or first class, or any class for that matter. You know you're in for a bad flight when a wheel pops off while airborne, and they're showing smutty movies with a pack of cards. Jerry had to evacuate the plane, ending up in the snow, with a bearded fellar quite like himself, who too took that dreaded flight. After Warren yells a word that buries him half deep in an avalanche, he ends up in hospital where he's been recorded as the coldest patient they've had. You realize that, when you hear the sound of ice, dropping into Jerry's bedpan. An insanely hypnotic comedy, manned by a guy who knows funny. For Lewis fans, there's no excuse not to watch this. I repeat, no excuses.

I have seen many funny movies come and go, but I have yet to see a movie as funny as this one! My brother and I saw this movie on cable, back in 1983 when i was 13 years old, and we were literally on the floor "cracking up"!! It really lives up to its title!! Jerry Lewis was at his very best! Thumbs wayyyyy up!!

After the release of Hardly Working which opened number one it's first weekend,I don't think Cracking Up even got a U.S. release.When Jerry teams with Bill Richmond on the writing usually good comedy follows: Nutty Professor,The Patsy,The Errand Boy.Well Lewis/Richmond wrote this movie and came up with a gem.

The scene of him entering the doctors office is just a side splitter, Jerry laying carpet with the Walkman headphones on had my son laughing for days.All the scenes had a very good flow to them and Jerry seemed very invigorated and up for this outing.Compared to the outings of the late 60's this is a very interested Jerry and it shows.This movie is an overlooked classic.

If you have watched many movies directed by Jerry Lewis, you will have noticed they are very different from the Hollywood mainstream movies of the times.

Maybe best described as "experimental comedy", he was constantly pushing the boundaries of this genre. It seems to have been a reflection of how hard he pushed himself and those around him.

Especially in "Cracking Up" he seems to be releasing some inner impatience through his direction. The complete lack of regard for the attention span of the audience is clear.

It is an endless series of long overdrawn 'shticks', but these bits are all new. Like he is angrily challenging the audience "Look. These are NEW. Get it? Do I have to spell it out? Okaaayy ..."

By 1983 he was in a position to do what he liked, for his art, for himself. This movie was not even released until years later on cable and video.

He experiments with fractured narrative, a style that has become commonplace today. He also continues to drive stunning visuals, a hallmark of his direction.

The psychologist's office scene looked like the room was covered in ice, everything has surreal unnatural opulent sheen. His antics of slipping and falling for 20 minutes deeply underscored "THIS IS NEW".

No one needs to be reminded he was a genius in his own right, with patents on several inventions including instant-replay.

If you watch "Nutty Professor" carefully, you will see that Desilu Studios adopted not only his richly saturated visuals, but even many of the sound effects when producing "Star Trek" years later.

On a more serious note, his work with the MDA Telethon was an unparalleled financial success. He fought to direct most of the funding into genetics, specifically screening technology that has become a pillar of medical science today. A major first step toward treatment of any genetic disorder.

It was another risky experiment that succeeded beyond expectations. Very few thought so at the time, and people wonder why he had a reputation of being impatient with doubters.

He was first in many ways, he always had to be first. Even if it cost him personally, and many times it did. This movie was not his first experiment, nor his last.

If you can appreciate "Cracking Up" as a daring experiment, and try to see that no one in Hollywood was doing anything remotely as risky, then you can enjoy it at least at an intellectual level.

Progress is 10% inspiration and 90% persperation, and this movie did make some progress. He was truly the nuttiest of professors, who would even play the clown and fall flat on his face if it would make a difference.

He made a difference.

Jerry Lewis is hilariously amazing. He is truly a comic genius. He writes hilarious movies and executes them so well and this is no exception. This is a great movie A GREAT MOVIE ONE OF JERRY'S OVERLOOKED GEMS IS CORRECT!!!!!!!!! If Jerry reads this I just have to say, you are the best at slapstick, and you are hilarious the most talented comedian to ever live, but I have a feeling there is this one kid who is coming up who will become the greatest, all because of ur teaching through ur films and colgate comedy hours.