Happy Hour (1987)

User Rating:

3.6/10   

Director:

John De Bello

Writers:

John De Bello (writer)
Costa Dillon (writer)

Release Date:

May 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Let the party begin!

Plot:

A chemist experimenting with different formulas stumbles upon an ingredient that, when added to beer...

Plot Keywords:

Beer | Independent Film

Cast

Jim Parrott	...	Barbarian Leader
Richard Gilliland	...	Blakely
Kathi Diamant	...	Cathy Teegarden
James Newell	...	Jack Marshall (as Jim Newell)
Herb Kronsberg	...	Jenkins
Debi Fares	...	Ms. Shepard
Eddie Deezen	...	Hancock
Deborah Gates	...	Meredith Casey (as Debbie Gates)
Arnie Miller	...	Tinker
Rich Little	...	Mr. X
Jamie Farr	...	Crummy Fred
Mary M. Egan	...	Old Woman
D.J. Sullivan	...	Fred's Neighbor
Tawny Kitaen	...	Misty Roberts
Stephen F. Andrich	...	Steve Andrich (as Steve Andrich)

Also Known As:

Sour Grapes (USA)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

San Diego, California, USA

Company:

Four Square Productions

Soundtrack:

I Wouldn't Do That To You

Bizarre satire

Marshall Industries of Denver makes the country's no. 1 beer. In fact, in this movie, beer is VERY popular. Most people seem to be drunk a lot of the time, and even 6-year-olds can drink. But Blake, despite being a Marshall employee, wants nothing to do with the beer outside the workplace. He doesn't want his children drinking either.

One day a mystery man shows up at Marshall looking for work. He is willing to do anything. I'm not exactly sure what he was trying to accomplish. He has one scene with Blake where he claims to be a Mormon. Later he has gotten access to the Marshall brewery by claiming to be Cary Grant. As far as I can tell, this is the one time Rich Little uses the skill for which he is best known. Other than that, his abilities weren't used to their potential. He is an okay actor, though.

As a M*A*S*H fan, I liked Jamie Farr the best. He too had a secret agenda of some kind which involved sneaking into the brewery of Marshall's leading competitor. Along the way, he had numerous mishaps. Farr's performance wasn't quite on the level of Corporal Klinger, but he didn't seem to have that much to work with. The other actors had the goofier lines and Farr seemed to play more straight when he spoke, instead ending up a victim of physical comedy.

I do know that there was some secret ingredient that everyone wanted their hands on. Supposedly, this ingredient would make the other beer number one.

I'm not sure what to think of this movie overall. At times it was a hilarious satire. But bad acting in a conventional movie doesn't look too different from good acting in a spoof. I'll give the people who made the movie the benefit of the doubt and say they made a good, but not great, satire. The situations were so silly that this movie was still entertaining, even if I didn't know exactly what was going on. Adding a lot to the movie: the physical comedy and elaborate plans for getting into ... wherever.

The ending was enjoyable in a goofy way. It was one of those cases where the characters knew they were in a movie.