I am a huge fan of the original National Lampoon articles about O.C and Stiggs, and sadly, this movie captures little of the glory of those stories. Still, there are a few good moments, such as when King Sunny Ade and his African Beats are playing, and also when they show any exterior shot (the movie was filmed around Mesa and Phoenix, AZ). Also, I still remember the primal screams of "SCHWAAAAAAAAAB!!" when I think of this movie. The torture the Schwab family endures will most always bring a smile to my face. I think the biggest problems with this movie lie in the fact that the original O.C. and Stiggs articles were very 'out-there', some of the concepts were not P.C. for even then in the late 80s. One article related how they put a hayride together and made all the mentally challenged kids at one school ride in it, and how OC & S each got oral sex from one of the kids. This kinda storyline does not make a movie producer automatically start scrambling for the checkbook. So these non-PC (frankly, audience-scaring) ideas had to be 'toned down', to the point where the producers lost the core audience they were shooting for in the first place. Another area that needed work was the plot. It's pretty thin, even for this type of movie. The boys want King Sunny Ade to play a concert in town, so they do what they can to make it happen (Let's put on a bake sale!). That's it. As blah as this movie was, I still recommend it if only for the music. I can't wait until it finally comes out on DVD.
Review of O.C. and Stiggs
