Really Surprised!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Michael Keaton was in a bunch of funny flicks in the Eighties and this is one of them. I go for the parody stuff with quick quips and humorous sight gags, and as a fan of gangster films, this one clicked in more ways than one. I probably got the biggest kick out of actor Richard Dimitri doing the Roman Moronie bit with all the fractured malapropisms - "You fargin sneaky bastige!" Works for me every time.So just as I was thinking that Keaton was giving it the old Jimmy Cagney swagger, news comes that D.A. brother Tommy (Griffin Dunne) and the governor plan on attending the latest Cagney release. I was anxious and hopeful that we'd get to see which one it was, and we do, although the timing of it wouldn't have worked for this movie. "The Roaring Twenties" came out in 1939, and the setting for this one was 1935 when Johnny (Keaton) relates his life story to the pet shop kid. Priscilla Lane's name was in the theater marquee along with Cagney's, so that made sense because she was second billed, but it would have been neat if Bogart's name appeared there too.There's a lot of great back-up given the principals here; Maureen Stapleton is a sketch as Ma Kelly, while Peter Boyle and Joe Piscopo always entertain. I got a kick out of the family doctor (Carl Gottlieb) ratcheting up his bill for medical services performed on Ma as Johnny's fame and reputation grew as a mobster. The blocked salivary gland was a neat malady for $7500, I hope Ma was able to spit again.Anyway, you'll have to catch this one to see the New York Yankees of Crime do their stuff, and Marilu Henner do her's. There's probably not a vermin here you won't like, and with any luck, it may keep you out of a life of crime.

There are a lot great silly spoof movies out there. Johnny Dangerously isn't one of them. With names like Danny Devito, Weird Al, and Michael Keaton, I was expecting to at least laugh a few times but I found myself cringing more than anything. The jokes aren't over the top enough and the worst "jokes" repeat themselves to make the experience even worse. I find myself confused on the tone of this movie as parts of it seemed aimed towards adults and other parts exclusively for children under 10. If you think bad accents, cartoon like physics, and repeated jokes for 10 year olds are hilarious, then Johnny Dangerously is for you.

Two people at the beginning of their film careers; director Amy Heckerling (who two years earlier directed the Cameron Crow penned "Fast Times at Ridgemont High") and Michael Keaton (in only his second leading role, after "Mr Mom" and a support role in his breakthrough film "Nightshift") come together with "Johnny Dangerously" to bring us a flighty, colourful and madcap send-up of gangster films of the 1930s. Johnny Kelly as a kid turned to crime (despite it would break his mother's heart if she knew), but in the order to pay for her medical bills he didn't see any other way since they were quite poor. So the years have past and he has become attached to it and a big player in the mob, where he would be known as Johnny Dangerously. The spoof might be hit and miss, but it always remains agreeably light-weight and Keaton just had a knack for comic timing. The wilily unrestrained material (stormed up by four writers -- well there you go) creates one gag after another, either visually, verbally or simply combining the two in a very cartoon-like manner. It really does have that old-fashion screwball mentality, but still some wit behind it and the conviction for fast moving, running gags. The silly dialogues are amusingly snappy (especially the lines from Dimitri; murdering the English language "This is fargan war!"), irony laced but with a dry sense. So many cracker lines fill the feature. Heckerling zesty direction goes hand-in-hand with the cheerful style and it's perfectly apt with the golden age period with its set designs, locations and costume work. Weird Al Yankovic chips in with the spiritedly illustrative title song, and the music score is a flavoursome effort of the era. Charmingly vibrant performances lend well with the likes of Peter Boyle, Griffin Dunne, Joe Piscopo, Danny Deviot (who's good fun), Maureen Stapleton (she's absolutely great!), Dom Deluise, Richard Dimitri and the sprightly redheaded siren Marilu Henner. Dom DeLuise and Ray Walston turn up in small comic cameos too. Pleasurably over-the-top entertainment.

As far as parody films go, there are few that are worth time and energy. but with a recent resurgence of horrid parodies such as Date Movie and The Comebacks, it is a breath of fresh air to come back and rediscover a truly funny farce like Johnny Dangerously.After his mother has no end of medical problems, little Johnny goes to work for the mob. What fallows is a series of gags, most of which work, there are, however, the occasional flops. But a foreign gangster who can't master the American language (profanity wise, at least), a rival gangster with a penchant for shooting his mouth off (...once!), a younger brother with the D.A. who is out to get Johhny Dangerously, and a hot young starlet hot for his affections have Johnny busy.And the viewer will be busy laughing, for the most part, as every gangster-movie cliché is skewered by a talented cast and decent writing.Not perfect by a long shot, but definitely good for a smile on a bad day.