Slapstick of Another Kind (1982)

A rich, beautiful couple give birth to deformed alien twins who, when their heads are together, are the smartest kids on the planet.

Director:

Steven Paul

Writers:

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (novel) (as Kurt Vonnegut), Steven Paul

Stars:

Jerry Lewis, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jerry Lewis	...	Wilbur Swain / Caleb Swain
Madeline Kahn	...	Eliza Swain / Lutetia Swain
Marty Feldman	...	Sylvester
John Abbott	...	Dr. Frankenstein
Jim Backus	...	President of the U.S.
Samuel Fuller	...	Col. Sharp
Merv Griffin	...	Anchorman
Pat Morita	...	Ah Fong - the Chinese Ambassador
Virginia Graham	...	Gossip Specialist
Ben Frank	...	Quentin - the Handyman
Cheire Harris	...	Maria - the Maid (as Cherie Harris)
Robert Hackman	...	Study Hall Supervisor
Eugene Choy	...	Lum Fung
Ken Johnson	...	Horace
Peter Kwong	...	Chinese Astronaut

Storyline

Caleb Swain and his wife Lutetia are a rich couple deemed to be the most beautiful of all the beautiful people by the press. This changes when Lutetia gives birth to oversize, deformed twins named Wilbur and Eliza. Unknown to them, the twins are really an alien brother-and-sister team implanted in Lutetia to solve the world's problems. When they are apart they are not much smarter than a potted plant, but together they are an intellectual force to be reckoned with. Their closeness is put to the test when a series of events threatens to keep the twins apart. Mixed in with all this is a miniaturized Chinese ambassador who needs the twins' help to make a deal for the sale of gravity.

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Plot Keywords:

slapstick comedy | twins | alien | chinese | voice over narration | 

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Taglines:

Extra-terrestrials have never been this spaced-out before [DVD]

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1982 (France)

Also Known As:

Slapstick of Another Kind

Filming Locations:

The Rindge House - 2263 South Harvard Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original 1982 cut of the movie featured a score by Michel Legrand. When the movie was re-edited and subsequently re-released in 1984, it was replaced with a more science-fiction-laced score by Morton Stevens (of Hawaii Five-O (1968) fame). A soundtrack LP was released containing on one side the score by Stevens and on the other side highlights of the score by Legrand.

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Goofs

The boom mic is visible in the scene where the staff at the mansion is attempting to cheer up Eliza after Wilbur is taken to military school (on full frame 1.33:1 prints; the prints cropped to 1.85.1 mask the boom out).

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Alternate Versions

The original 1982 cut of the movie features the song "Two Heads Are Better Than One" during the opening credits at the nursery, as well as over the end credits.

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Jerry Lewis/Dabney Coleman (1984)

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Soundtracks

Lonesome No More
Lyrics by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (as Kurt Vonnegut)
Music by Michel Legrand
Sung by Madeline Kahn

User Reviews

Grotesque

I went looking for something about what Kurt Vonegut himself must have thought of this film adaption of his novel Slapstick. I could find nothing attributable to him, but I sure found plenty of people who thought this film was horrid. I have to say I agree.

If someone like Steven Spielberg had made Slapstick it probably would have turned out something like Close Encounters Of The Third Kind or Cocoon. It should have been a fantasy like those two films. But someone possibly Jerry Lewis saw the title and was taken with it. And we got a slapstick version of Slapstick.

Jerry Lewis and Madeline Kahn play a wealthy married couple who have fathered a pair of grotesque looking boy and girl twins also played by Lewis and Kahn. They're not human, these the product of alien seed put into Kahn by some far superior alien race in the hopes of saving the planet. Previously they've tried with two other twins in China which has now progressed technically far beyond the rest of the planet. But they're taking selfish advantage. Time to even the odds.

The Chinese under the leadership of Premier Pat Morita have solved their population explosion and in turn all the problems that has brought with it. Wait till you see how they did it. President Jim Backus of the USA wants to do the same thing for America. Can Jerry Lewis and Madeline Kahn be the answer?

The secret is that together they're at an intelligence level light years beyond anyone human even Stephen Hawking. Apart they're some of Mack Sennett's best comedians for real. Useless apart and together they can outsmart the world, what to do?

Maybe some day someone will do this novel over again in the proper genre.