tavm Review of The Big Mouth

The Big Mouth (1967)

The Big Mouth was a pretty enjoyable Jerry Lewis comedy I watched on YouTube

[6/10 · 20 August 2009]

Having just watched this on YouTube, there were plenty of good and bad things about this movie. The Good: supporting performances of Del Moore as hotel clerk Mr. Hodges who gets the brunt of Jerry Lewis' accidents, Charlie Callas as one of the gangster's hoods Rex who does his nervous shtick when he finds Jerry's doppelanger hood is still "alive", and especially John Nolan who plays "FBI Agent" Webster-you'll figure out why I put quotes around his title. There's also funny scenes of Jerry in a phone booth trying to get to the police as well as of police officers arguing what a certain code means as Jerry is stopped while speeding. And I did like Jerry both when he's "normal" and in disguise. The Bad: The Asian stereotypes. It's especially embarrassing to see "Star Trek" player George Takei playing this kind of role as a henchman who suffers a tragic fate. Also, I didn't like the dialogue exchange between Lewis and leading lady Susan Bay about his "problem". Such double entendre has no place in a family comedy like this (I know, there's some violence but somehow that's more acceptable here). And the chase climax was pretty lame. Overall, this was pretty enjoyable despite some of the more objectionable material I cited. So on that note, I did like The Big Mouth. P.S. I didn't recognize Rob Reiner or Charo in their cameos so either I missed them or IMDb got it wrong. (I'm not really accusing this site, just wondering where either Reiner or Charo could have been in the movie) Oh, and one more thing: supporting player Buddy Lester is from my birthtown of Chicago, Ill.