cult film freak: CHEVY CHASE PHYSICALLY SUFFERING THROUGH 'MODERN PROBLEMS'

year: 1981 cast: Chevy Chase, Patty D'Arbinville, Dabney Coleman Rates: ***1/2

Based on the Front Page News of a then-newly-elected President Ronald Regan-era strike, Chevy Chase is a not very contented Air Traffic Controller, and he's having serious troubles and/or, um... well... MODERN PROBLEMS...

His convertible's been keyed... nothing compared to the nuclear waste spilled from a truck, eventually allowing him to move things at will derived from the frustration of his girlfriend leaving: Herein the orchestrated physical gags are balanced along with Chase's deadpan humor, only more-so than usual: the poor guy's downright depressed...

Chevy Chase in MODERN PROBLEMS

So his glib, semi-conceited sarcasm is nowhere in sight: which wouldn't fit much anyway, and why PROBLEMS isn't a quotable classic like CADDYSHACK, VACATION or FLETCH... in fact it's pretty much forgotten...

Perhaps because the laughs are more plot-strategic than spontaneous... and those eventual table-turning powers (while making goofy expressions straight from SNL Weekend Update) merely serve to move the story forward...

Chevy Chase in MODERN PROBLEMS

As Chevy's character is a victim of circumstance, connected to everyone including his crippled friend dating his friendly ex-wife (Brian Doyle Murry and Mary Kay Place); ex-girlfriend Patti D'Arvanville dating a prissy fella who makes Liberace seem like John Wayne; a despicable self-help author played by Dabney Coleman, wielding his usual jerky-persona; and a voodoo-spouting maid ala Nell Carter before her big break on GIMME A BREAK....

Then the inevitable revenge occurs with irresponsible glee... and it's old school, slapstick-inspired entertainment through and through until act three when... at his friend's summer beach house along with invited guests/all the ensemble side-cast assembled... Chevy's mystical spells go overboard: Leaving the characters, and audience, to deal with those quirky once-sporadic gifts instead of actually enjoying them...

Opening for MODERN PROBLEMS

Although what MODERN is mainly remembered for is (highlighted in the trailers) a snorting of something more powerful than cocaine, and may possibly be a nod to the still-living/still hard-partying John Belushi...

Or perhaps PROBLEMS is just a way of saying farewell to the anything-goes 1970's in which white powder was the rocket fuel for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE and its related cast-starring movies... leaving one with nothing left to say but... "I LIKE IT!" since there's not enough here, really, to genuinely love.