Suffering Bastards (1989) User Reviews

Not insufferable, but definitely the weird and wacky type of film

[inkblot11 · 5/10 · 21 January 2007]

Buddy is a lounge owner who also sings in his establishment, somewhere in Hawaii. When he needs a plumber, a beautiful young lady-mechanic answers his call. Since he likes what he sees, Buddy buys her a drink and begs her to listen to his life story. It seems, Buddy and his brother Al were the children of a female lounge owner/singer, too. A streak of bad luck caused their mother to lose her place of business and the brothers swore they would buy it for her again, someday. However, on an outing to the beach, mother dies, choking on a dagwood sandwich and the boys could abandon their oath, if they chose. Yet, when they crack a safe and load up with money from a local mobster, they decide to purchase the long-abandoned club, anyway. They are a singing duo, after all. Will business be good? Will the mob come after them? This is a strange little movie. Buddy and Al walk to a different drum, no doubt about that and their story is weird and wacky. The cast is quite good but largely unknown. The Jersey setting is wonderfully realized but the production values and costumes are mediocre. Then, also, the script has some bad language but manages to sport some memorable one liners. For example, one character asks the waiter if they have peppermint snapps. When the waiter assures the person that they do, the character says "good, I'll have a banana daiquari!" Fun. However, this movie remains a strange little piece of celluloid. If you an adult, bored with the tried and true and having seen most every other film available, you might seek out this movie. It is so offbeat that it can not fail to entertain, if only as a curio.

Not entirely bad. It lags at times, but McGinley is priceless

[jjschueppert · 23 July 2004]

The whole movie is a come-on to Gina Gershon. The whole tale is a flashback he tells in order to get her into bed. It follows his and his's life in New Jersey or somewhere and the terrible jobs they have. All is well as long as the two brothers have their mother...but then she dies from stuffing too much sandwich in her mouth (YOU MUST CHEW!).

THe plot sucks, but Mcginley and his beautiful white choppers carry it along. He tries to smarm his way into the ladies and it never seems to work. He comes on to one of the most hideous bar rats ever in the first half hour, and he's so inept he can't even get her.

Look out for the midget from Twin Peaks as a singer channeling Elvis.

Remember Top Dollar from 'the crow'? He was Renee in 'basquiat' too. He's great in here as a real estate agent. Does anyone else think he might be a cokehead in this one? He sort of reminded me of Bernie from that movie about that weekend at Bernie's house...what was that called?

This is half decent if you're on drugs and bored. Don't seek it out, by any means.

Attempt At Comedy Doesn't Take Off As Excess Wins Out Over Drollery.

[rsoonsa · 3/10 · 27 April 2008]

John C. McGinley plays the lead and contributes to the screenplay for this largely absurd piece, a work that provides a few excellent moments but also an exorbitance of longueurs, resulting in its missing the mark as a genuine comedy despite strong efforts from several cast members. Action opens in a Honolulu bar of the dreariest kind owned and operated by Buddy Johnson (McGinley) whose non-draining sink leads to a service call by an attractive young female plumber (Gina Gershon) and, as means of impressing her, Buddy spins an incident-filled story of his life thus far, with this tale becoming the film's narrative (by way of flashbacks). Buddy and his brother Al (David Warshofsky) were reared by their mother who owned a night spot where (as we view) the siblings performed since they were young boys as the "Johnson Brothers", a singing duo of only mild talent, but after Mrs. Johnson is cheated out of her night club/bar by a con man, Buddy and Al are forced to take employment as warehousemen for a cruel thug, Mr. Leech (Eric Bogosian), who enjoys giving the lads a hard time. He in fact fires them, and after he refuses to give them their final paycheck, the pair sneaks in at night to rifle the company safe, using a combination that Buddy has purloined. Their intention is merely to recover the amount owed to them, but they instead cannot resist stealing $300,000 that is in plain sight, this being some of Leech's illicitly acquired (drug sales) monies, and the fun begins as Leech is determined to recover the stolen cash through use of a vicious henchman who may be simply too persistent for slick Buddy to evade for very long. Al, although consistently yielding place to charismatic Buddy, remains a stalwart companion although his older brother's ostensible ability to hector him into outrageous circumstances is probably somewhat apocryphal as is a good deal of Buddy's tale that he relates to the alluring lady plumber (the working title for the film was LIARS CLUB). In sum, this is a weakly written affair, never becoming a successful whole due to a critical deficiency of comedic dialogue, with the more able players being as a result defeated by an untidy script. A skimpy budget is, of course, of no help, nor is wayward post-production editing that needlessly extends episodes of immoderate violence. Watching McGinley work is pleasing, as ever, while Warshofsky impresses with praiseworthy timing. Acting honours here go to Michael Wincott for his excellent turn as a real estate agent who longs for a career as an entertainer.