I watched The Adventures of Ford Fairlane again recently and had to write this review. I loved this movie the first time I saw it, and I still love it. Sure, it’s lewd and crude, but if you appreciate humor for humor’s sake, regardless of its crudeness, this movie will entertain you. Let’s face it, he says he’s not the crudest comedian to litter the theater stage.
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is a comedy riddled with foul language, sexual innuendo, and direct sexual suggestions with visual aids, but it’s also a great parody of those smoke room gumshoe movies, and a good action flick to boot.
As rock and roll detective Ford Fairlane, Dice laments the money problems he faces with his private investigation business. He can’t pay his secretary, Jazz, and clients keep sending him non-monetary compensation. INXS sends you a Koala from Australia as payment.
Dialogue is peppered with one-liners and snippets of Clay’s standup act, including his trademark neck cracking, comical body twists when lighting cigarettes, and spastic vocal blurriness, “…eby…ebbedy…maybe I died in that”. explosion…” The film is a vehicle for Dice’s brand of humor, and the director pulled it off perfectly.
We are treated to the goofy side of Dice as his character unravels corruption in the record business. Wayne Newton stars as Julian Grendel (appropriate: Grendel to Fairlane’s Beowulf?), a mysterious record mogul, with a dark secret that Ford must reveal.
Robert Englund is perfect as Grendel’s goon, and the final showdown at Ford’s IP office is funny, but also impressive and satisfying in a way. Even a stand-up comedian can play a Hollywood hero.
It is a love story too. After foiling Grendel’s plot and defeating Smiley (Englund), Ford sets out to find Jazz and seal that romantic end. For me the movie works, it’s funny, funny, exciting and entertaining. Even endearing. But definitely not for the prudish.
Anyone who doesn’t appreciate Andrew Dice Clay’s style of humor needs to see this movie and see Dice at his best. He brings his gruff but goofy and lovable stand-up character to the big screen. There’s also some effective lighting, as there’s always a twinkle in Fairlane’s eyes, which brings a kind of charm to an otherwise rough-and-ready character.
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is well written and contains all the key elements that make movies successful, and then some. And it still works today.