Retro Nerd Girl Movie Reviews: Johnny Dangerously 1984 Movie Review

From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a quick spoiler free film review for you.

Today I'll be reviewing the movie Johnny Dangerously released in 1984.

Starring:
Michael Keaton, Joe Piscopo, and Marilu Henner.

Directed by:
Amy Heckerling.

Genre:
Comedy, Crime

Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:
PG-13

Budget:
$9,000,000 (estimated)

Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
6.4

The Synopsis is:
Johnny Kelly a kid with a heart of gold is forced into a life of crime in order to pay for his mother’s medical expenses. As a gangster he goes by the name Johnny Dangerously in this 1930’s style mobster spoof.

The story begins as Michael Keaton staring as Johnny Kelly a pet shop owner stops a young boy from stealing and sits him down to explain that crime doesn’t pay by telling the story of his life.

At first he starts out as a paperboy on the streets of the lower east side of New York in the 1920’s. He is approached by Jocko Dundee played by the legendary Peter Boyle right after he witnesses how he handles himself against a local bully Danny Vermin, as they fight for the right to sell papers on Johnny’s corner.

At first Johnny refuses because it would break his mother, Ma Kelly’s heart. However, her medical costs drives him to work for Dundee.

One of the highlights of the story plot is the tension between Johnny and his brother Tommy Kelly who he sends to law school. The irony is that Tommy becomes a District Attorney go after Johnny Dangerously.

It is actually the same plot in the 1934 film Manhattan Melodrama.

It is a movie that is in good company with many other spoof movies like Spaceballs and Naked Gun. But what really comes to mind for me is how it feels like the comedy in the film Young Frankenstein 1974 which also shares actor Peter Boyle and composer John Morris. It also shares the fact that they are period piece comedies.

Michael Keaton is clearly channeling James Cagney in his performance and does it adding his own style to it. In a way, it's still classic young Keaton, with the raised eyebrows and the cocky, cavalier demeanor. He makes it so easy for you to get lost in the fun of this light hearted comedy.

Joe Piscopo was famous at the time for being one of the players on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984. He really stands out in the this film really looking like he is having a blast play an over the top 30’s movie villain.

He was a pure joy to watch because of all of the many running jokes surrounding his character. If someone did something to Danny Vermin or punch him or grabbed him, he says that a member of his family did that to him, once… once. I don’t do the joke any justice, by explaining it, but he really sells it good. In fact you may hear someone try to do that joke, but there are very few people who know what they are talking about.

Joe Piscopo's played his voice higher than his normal voice to really capitalize on the “vermin” quality of his character Danny Vermin. And it just tickles me to watch his performance.

Marilu Henner playing Lil Sheridan was fantastic but I was surprised how little she was in the film. But she really has one club performance scene she does that is pretty entertaining.

I couldn’t stop laughing throughout the film. It’s hilariously slapstick, corney and I felt that they were all very situational which always seems to be the best way to deliver comedy. But make no mistake, as fun as this film is, it is full of mature humor and that might have been the reason it never got mainstream attention.

One of the funniest scenes in the film which was incredibly mature is when Johnny shows his brother a fake video to scare him from getting married. I can never watch that scene without laughing into hysterics.

I absolutely loved the irony of seeing how Johnny and Lil Sheradan are dreaming of a normal life while other people are dreaming of their glamorous life.

The grapevine scene is such a classic scene for me. It begins with a bird relaying a message the the first inmate and after a long line of relaying the message, it gets completely mixed up. It just tickles me so much.

One other feature of note, is how they used, text and news paper headlines to infuse another layer of comedy into the story without side tracking the whole film. I loved them so much.

To me it surprised me that the reception to this film was so dismal and many people believed that it was because it was one of several movies released around that time that were gangster comedies and that doomed the film.

Prizzi's Honor (1985), Wise Guys (1986), Harlem Nights (1989), City Heat (1984), Johnny Dangerously (1984), Little Miss Marker (1980), and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982).

The terrible results of this film inspired Director Amy Heckerling to begin writing her own movies, such as Look Who's Talking 1989 and Clueless 1995.

This is a highly underrated film with great Ragtime music with an opening song, This is the Life performed by Weird Al Yankovic and a beautifully illustrated poster by Drew Strusand (They don’t make posters like this anymore).

What a gem!