I can't decide if this is a good movie or not. I've watched it through a couple of times now and I really can't decide. It did make me laugh out loud (if only at the sheer audacity of Brando's performance), but the one thing I often found myself thinking was how no-one below the age of 15 (or so) would find it very funny at all, as they probably wouldn't have seen 'The Godfather' and wouldn't understand what was supposed to be funny about that mumbling old fat guy that Ferris Bueller looks so surprised to see siting behind a desk. 90% of the film's comedy revolves around Brando's imitation of himself, which, while undoubtedly amounting to cinematic blasphemy in the eyes of many hard-core movie lovers, he actually does very well. (His character being a p***-take of his 1972 Godfather creation Don Vito Corleone.) The remaining comedic 10% belongs to a giant lizard, but that's neither here nor there...
Now, it's widely accepted that Brando has never been one to take himself or his craft particularly seriously, and let's just say that in 'The Freshman' he gets a prime opportunity to express that feeling to his audience. It's the stuff of Hollywood legend that Brando, while filming the wedding scene in 'The Godfather', pulled down his pants and mooned the cast and crew. Of course, that little stunt never made it into the final edit, but with 'The Freshman' you could say Brando gets to moon the audience (metaphorically) to his hearts content. It's a gleeful pie in the face to every up-tight movie critic who's ever demanded he act like the legend they made him. And it is fun to watch... in a cheeky, somewhat sadistic, in-joke kind of way.
A hearty 'Well Done!' to Matthew Broderick for simply being able to act opposite that towering monster whoopi cushion that is Marlon Brando and keep a straight face.
Now, it's widely accepted that Brando has never been one to take himself or his craft particularly seriously, and let's just say that in 'The Freshman' he gets a prime opportunity to express that feeling to his audience. It's the stuff of Hollywood legend that Brando, while filming the wedding scene in 'The Godfather', pulled down his pants and mooned the cast and crew. Of course, that little stunt never made it into the final edit, but with 'The Freshman' you could say Brando gets to moon the audience (metaphorically) to his hearts content. It's a gleeful pie in the face to every up-tight movie critic who's ever demanded he act like the legend they made him. And it is fun to watch... in a cheeky, somewhat sadistic, in-joke kind of way.
A hearty 'Well Done!' to Matthew Broderick for simply being able to act opposite that towering monster whoopi cushion that is Marlon Brando and keep a straight face.