Review of Delirious

Introduction

I miss the soap opera. Not the dismal stuff that British television is famous for, or the cheap and cheerful programmes that come out of Australia. No, I`m talking about the big budget American soaps that ruled in the eighties, featuring big business and even bigger hair. I miss the designer clothes with shoulder pads so broad that you could land F18s on. I miss the high profile double dealing and backstabbing, the sex and the sin. I miss the improbable storylines and preposterous cliffhangers. Let`s face it, I miss Dallas and Dynasty. Dallas was always my favourite, simply because of the presence of JR Ewing, the most memorable character to grace eighties television. Dallas had the better characters, the better stories and the better theme tune. But Dynasty had one thing that no other programme could ever have… Fallon! Not the first one who vanished into obscurity very rapidly, but the stunning and beautiful Fallon as played by Emma Samms during my tender teenage years. I would be avidly tuned into Dynasty week after week, without even caring what the story was, just to get my Fallon fix. Whether it was the tumultuous relationship with Jeff Colby, amnesia, the inevitable catfight with Heather Locklear (my particular favourite) or the alien abduction, I`d lap it up. Ah, they don`t make `em like that anymore. So when Delirious came along, a John Candy comedy about a soap opera also starring the delectable Emma Samms, I naturally took the opportunity to wallow in some nostalgia.

Jack Gable is a soap opera writer, fighting the good fight to keep his vision of the show, despite constant meddling by the TV station`s executives. The Sherwoods insist on rewriting his scripts and changing the cast to his objection. He objects mostly to the fact that by cutting costs the show would lose Rachel Hedison, played by Laura who he is passionately in love with. She of course is in a relationship with a co-star and just uses Jack`s affections to get her own way on the show. After a particularly stressful argument with the Sherwoods, Jack is driving away for the weekend and gets into a traffic accident. He awakes in a hospital surrounded by the shows actors, or so it appears. To his incredulity, he finds he is actually in Ashford Falls where the show is set. The characters have come to life and he is suddenly embroiled in the storyline. He finds that he can alter events in the world by changing the script on his typewriter. The lovely Rachel will be his at last. But not everything goes to plan, especially when he meets Janet, a character he never wanted in the show.

Video

A 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer graces this disc. The picture is grainy and a little soft. There is a little dirt, but the grain overwhelms that. I feel that is more a symptom of the original film rather than the transfer though. The feel of the film is very much a TV movie, with everything seeming small and low budget.

Audio

Delirious is a presented in Stereo in selected theatres according to the end credits. Guess what. It`s DD 2.0 stereo here too and in 5 languages no less, English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. The music is decidedly eighties, with Prince`s Delirious kicking the movie off. Cliff Eidelman`s score is suited to the material, reminiscent of the worst of the soaps. The sound itself is functional, with the dialogue always clear. I doubt that a surround remix could have done much with the sound.

Features

Loads of subtitle languages, a static menu screen, and the trailer.

Conclusion

Despite the film being made in 1991, it`s clear from the beginning, with the pop art font spelling the film title that this film is buried in the eighties. That isn`t a bad thing, as I like the eighties. On the surface, this film should be pretty good. The premise seems a little like Groundhog Day, and the journey that Jack is sent on is one of self-discovery. When the film starts, it seems for a moment, that you`re watching the Cable Guy, but despite these glowing comparisons, Delirious is anything but a classic. The cast is good though. John Candy is his usual amiable guy, a character we see in so many of his films. He`s still watchable though. Mariel Hemingway is a little non-descript as Louise/Janet, but works well with Candy. Emma Samms has a ball sending up her Dynasty persona and takes part in the silliness with gusto. Raymond Burr provides solid support as patriarch Carter Hedison. There is also a nice cameo by Robert Wagner.

While the cast is quite good, the film is let down by its script. The idea is quite promising, and the soap opera scenes and the world that Jack wakes up in are styled on the worst of the US daytime soaps. Friends aficionados will recognise the practitioners of "Smell the fart acting", but the script relies too much on slapstick and pratfalls, even in the `real` world. The film can be characterised by one word, silly. The silliness permeates everything that happens, with the characters and events just there for the sake of general absurdity rather than moving what little there is of the story along. This movie had me smiling at the inanity of it all, but not much more than that. It would be an average movie, but the presence of Emma Samms sparks enough teenage nostalgia to give Delirious an extra point.