I remember the hype, I remember the bad press, I remember loads about 'Howard the Duck' but I'd forgotten that I've never seen the Razzie-nominated Worst Film of the Decade. I have now.
First impressions (and I'm talking VERY first impressions here, like thirty seconds or so in) were that the noir-y feel of the title sequence and some inventive sight gags might mean that this could indeed be a forgotten treat. However, at twelve minutes in I first checked how long the film had left to run. I was bored. Most of the actors are on autopilot, especially Jeffrey Jones who can be a cracking comedy actor when he tries, but Tim Robbins is abysmally hammy and gives no hint of the comedic subtleties that he would later prove capable of.
This is a bloody shambles. An absolute shambles. I seem to recall that part of the problem this film had was the high expectations that the huge budget generated. Huge budget? If I'd spent a grand financing this I'd have wanted to know who it was being aimed at because it's too sleazy for kids and too juvenile for adults. And that's the problem, there's no control over the movie. It seems like everyone was having such a good time inventing duck gags, hiding clever references, punning and generally being smart-arses that they forgot that they were supposed to be entertaining the audience and not themselves. Anyway, back to the budget- where was it spent? I seem to remember that Howard the Duck cost more than the original Star Wars trilogy combined. The duck suit can't have come cheap and there a couple of decently-sized sets but that won't account for it all. Just what were the crew snacking on when they came up with this shite?
For the gags that I enjoyed before they proved wearisome, I give it 2/10. It got lucky.
