...and so does this movie.

It is catalogued only as a comedy, but I see it as the director's first attempt to construct a drama. It's not the first time he implements character arcs, but the agenda behind this is questionable enough to raise eye-brows and I am strongly questioning the conclusion of money being the solution to everything after a story that took a deep dive into street poverty. A few gags are fine, but once the real plot kicks in, Brooks experiments, which is fine, but his storytelling becomes too depressing for creating laughs.

Pass on this one. It brought me memories of the Mexican film Un Mundo Maravilloso (2006), a downright cynical film.

46/100

the opening 3 full minutes tracking at foot level is beautiful craft parody.

I watched this because I've never seen it and I thought it'd be a fun way to kick off the new year.

But then I realized that almost 30 years ago, Mel Brooks made this movie that's very 2019. It's all about Trump and white male privilege and class struggle and all these other things Twitter talks about all day long.

But it's also not all that funny and kinda (totally) rips off "Trading Places" so maybe Life Stinks after all.

Oh, also, there's a really funny line about gentrification: "They forced me to live in crap and now they want to take the crap away?!"

"Come on, Dr. Gachet, we're leaving!"

I wish this worked a little better, because it's nice to see Mel working outside his comfort zone, sort of a work of magical realism, with real sincerity and empathy. Still funnier than its reputation (at least to me), and Jeffrey Tambor proves that even in a broad Mel Brooks farce a little bit of serious acting can make all the difference. Great dance number, too.

This movie stinks

Not the sharpest Mel Brooks film but it has it's comedic moments. Brooks is still a master of slapstick.

This could be funny. The poster is funny. It's really bad though. Brooks made his name with the funny Nazi movie, but this is the one that's actually his "Jojo Rabbit:" a cloying, moralistic vanity project that pedals pat lessons while naively closing itself off to any piece of reality that would complicate its treacly sentimentality. No actor could make this work, but the self-casting here is just despicable; the only things more infuriating than his mugging are the stipulated stabs at pathos. Legitimately didn't think he had something this pretentious in him.

If the DVD this movie is on has only Play on the main menu with no scene selection, subtitles, and audio selection, you know this is going to be "high quality".

Also, if you no the typical clichés, it is not very original and qould see each plot beat coming from a mile away.

this movie is constantly surprising. you keep expecting it to be just really, really bad and then it swerves into something that's only a little bit bad. that being said if you want to watch a movie about the homeless experience may I recommend satoshi kon's film Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Not THAT bad. Definitely a mess but still plenty of good slapstick. I appreciated this movie’s attempt at doing something more emotional than most of his other films. I enjoy all Mel brooks’ movies because I grew up with them, perhaps if they don’t give you that childhood nostalgia the lesser ones are harder to enjoy.

It is catalogued only as a comedy, but I see it as the director's first attempt to construct a drama. It's not the first time he implements character arcs, but the agenda behind this is questionable enough to raise eye-brows and I am strongly questioning the conclusion of money being the solution to everything after a story that took a deep dive into street poverty. A few gags are fine, but once the real plot kicks in, Brooks experiments, which is fine, but his storytelling becomes too depressing for creating laughs.

Pass on this one. It brought me memories of the Mexican film Un Mundo Maravilloso (2006), a downright cynical film.

46/100

This movie stinks

A humorous and sweet-natured dramedy.

Goddard Bolt (Mel Brooks) is a rich, arrogant and self-obsessed businessman, who makes a bet with his nemesis (Jeffrey Tambor) that he can be homeless for 30 days. This eventually opens Bolt’s eyes to the way he has lived his life.

Life Stinks is one of those rare Mel Brooks films that is actually not a straight-up parody. While it does have a number of gut-busting laughs, there’s also some moments of drama. You can tell that Brooks must’ve wanted to tackle some heavier subject matter, but within the context of a comedy. But, I think it works well here and makes the inevitable character transition more believable.

It might not be as memorable as Young Frankenstein or as funny as Spaceballs, but I think Life Stinks is still Mel Brooks’ most mature movie to date.

Grade: B+

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Mel Brooks is just a character in and of himself no matter the character he’s portraying. He’s got the same Jewish charm (or big dick energy) as Larry David and it’s so hard to not love him. It’s a decent comedy that’s more about the personal growth he goes through than the yucks & chucks, but it’s still a good time.

I feel as though Life Stinks gets a bad rap solely because it is not like Mel Brooks’ other works. Rather provide us with another spoof or over-the-top comedy, Brooks instead presents a much more grounded piece of work which partially holds up due to its capitalist critiques and more serious tone. Sure, it’s far from being the funniest or most refined of his films, but it still possess a charm of its own, which may be observed  in the moments in which Brooks’ signature comedic wit shines through the cracks of the film’s mildly serious exterior.