This movie appears to have been made by someone with some good ideas but who also never had made a movie before nor had they considered that a script should be edited or even funny. When I saw this film, I saw it for John Candy and assumed, incorrectly, that it would be hilarious. Instead, there was a stupid plot about mind control and so many flat, unfunny moments. And, to top it off, Candy delivered some of the crudest lines I had ever heard up to that time. So, despite a potentially funny cast and story idea, we are left with an amateurish and crude movie that will probably be too stupid for the average adult, though teens will probably find a few laughs. It's really a shame--it could have been so much better. I mean, with Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty and John Candy it SHOULD have been wonderful.
Going Berserk
1983
Action / Comedy
Plot summary
Limo driver John Bourgignon is engaged to Nancy Reese. Her father, Congressman Ed Reese, is running for president and crusading against cult leader Sun Yi. Misadventure and intrigue stalk John and Nancy's path to the altar.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
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Incredibly crude and incredibly uneven
SCTV goes to the movies
John Bourgignon (John Candy) and Chick Leff (Joe Flaherty) from Melonville run a limo service. Their friend Sal DiPasquale (Eugene Levy) is a B-movie producer who wants to film John's wedding. John is engaged to Nancy Reese (Alley Mills),the daughter of Congressman Ed Reese (Pat Hingle). Ed is running for president and prosecuting cult leader Rev Sun Yi Day. John gets arrested for fighting in a male strip club. He is forced to go on the run handcuffed to criminal Jerome Willy Muhammed (Ernie Hudson). Sun Yi Day tries to hypnotize John into killing the congressman.
This relies a lot on the comic charms of John Candy. It really doesn't have much more than that. It's very uneven which is similar to SCTV itself. The movie kinda works with Candy. Flaherty is a good sidekick when he's actually on the screen. The movie is disjointed. The plot meanders a lot. It does have some outrageous funny moments.
Second City Sketches Linked By Thin Plot
It's not really a story film, despite the goings-on of John Candy, who's a limo driver with squirrelly acquaintances and his efforts to marry Alley Mills. She's the daughter of Congressman Pat Hingle. A cult led by Richard Libertini is trying to kill Hingle, and they figure to hypnotize Candy into doing it because why not?
It's an excuse for the members of the cast who were members of Second City -- Candy, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty -- to do Second-City-style sketches. they range from mediocre to pretty funny. There's also the inevitable bit, when they have Candy hypnotized, that they seem to think it is very funny to have him do.... nothing. Film makers seem to think that this is funny. I do not.
Your enjoyment of this film will depend on your taste in comedy and whether you enjoy Second City.