Mike O'Donoghue's parody of "Mondo Cane" showcases curious performers, strange musicians, celebrity mutations and unusual short films, including Thomas Alva Edison's "Elephant Electrocution". In the tradition of films like Groove Tube (1974), The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), and Saturday Night Live.
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Instant Favorite.
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
I saw this movie in 1979, I was 17 or 18, when it was released. The theater was perhaps 1/4 full when the movie started. Ten minutes into the movie me and the friend who went with me to see the film were the only two people in the theater. The movie was really weird and had no plot or reason to its script and people demanded their money back. We decided to stay for the ENTIRE movie.... why endure such torture??... here's why. We wanted to be true movie critics... to have a standard to base all other movies on it is hard to justify saying you have seen the best movie (a 10)they always come up with something better. But, it is easy to be able to base all other movies off of the worst movie ever made (and this is it... a 1 at best). There may be other movies out there that truly qualify as a 1, but I have yet to see them. I now base all movies I see on a scale based on this worst....I AM A TRUE MOVIE CRITIC...he he.
I looked forward to seeing this movie when it came out, since I was a huge SNL fan. When my boyfriend and I went to see it, the people coming out of the early show were yelling, "Don't waste your money!" But of course we had to find out for ourselves.While there were a few funny bits (Laser Bra 2000, Root Boy Slim), most of it felt like it could have been severely edited down to an amusing 1 hour show. It was pretty bad.When the opera singer came on, many people got up and walked out. This made me laugh, because I realized that O'Donoghue was just pressing people's buttons on purpose with this movie. Or else he was just insane. Whatever - you don't need to waste your time watching it, it's that bad.
"Mr. Mike's Mondo Video" is almost indescribable in terms of its mind-blowing bizarreness. This is Michael O'Donoghue's vision unfettered and it's not a pretty sight. (This is, of course, not to discount the contributions of his fellow writers Mitch Glazer, Emily Prager and Dirk Wittenborn, but this is Mr. Mike's show through and through.)This is definitely the sort of film that has a polarizing effect on its audience. You either love it or hate it; it's hard to feel indifferent about it. Personally, I think it's brilliant, even if each individual segment isn't. Some things -- like the Klaus Nomi dream sequence and the cat tossing -- go on a bit too long, but they're almost invariably followed by something which is outrageous and/or laugh-out-loud funny. (My favorite segments are the non sequitur-like commercial lead-ins --"Gig Young's groceries... Looking up Cheryl Tieg's dress.")A must-see for fans of Michael O'Donoghue. As a cultural document it is irreplaceable.
I actually saw this movie at a theater. As soon as I handed the cashier my money, she said two words I had never heard at a theater, before or since: "No refunds!" As soon as I heard those words, I should have just waved bye-bye to my cash and gone home. But no, foolishly, I went in and watched the movie. This movie didn't make ANYONE in the theater laugh. Not even once. Not even inadvertantly! Mostly, we sat there in stunned silence. Every ten minutes or so, someone would yell "This movie SUCKS!" The audience would applaud enthusiastically, then sit there in stunned, bored silence for another ten minutes.