Steve Martin was certainly a quirky presence in 1980s Hollywood cinema and he was an integral part of some of my favourite movies, with PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES a strong contender for my favourite comedy of the decade. In THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS, he re-teams with THE JERK director Carl Reiner for a typically madcap story about an eminent brain surgeon who falls in love with a black widow.
This is a joke-a-minute type of story that goes for broad laughs over realism. Martin is having a ball with his crazy character and his sheer energy is enough to win the viewer over from the very first scene. I've never been a fan of Kathleen Turner and she plays to type here as an ice-cold sociopathic character and when the two come together the sparks really fly.
I enjoyed the bizarre aspects of the film and the references to previous 'disembodied brain' B-movies. Sissy Spacek's role is warm-hearted and thoroughly unique which comes as a real surprise. David Warner is full of quirkiness as the mad scientist type and the film's increasingly outlandish antics see things end on a real madcap high. While THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS isn't my favourite of Martin's comedies, it's certainly a memorable, high-energy watch.
This is a joke-a-minute type of story that goes for broad laughs over realism. Martin is having a ball with his crazy character and his sheer energy is enough to win the viewer over from the very first scene. I've never been a fan of Kathleen Turner and she plays to type here as an ice-cold sociopathic character and when the two come together the sparks really fly.
I enjoyed the bizarre aspects of the film and the references to previous 'disembodied brain' B-movies. Sissy Spacek's role is warm-hearted and thoroughly unique which comes as a real surprise. David Warner is full of quirkiness as the mad scientist type and the film's increasingly outlandish antics see things end on a real madcap high. While THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS isn't my favourite of Martin's comedies, it's certainly a memorable, high-energy watch.