I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Among the movies that I have seen so far, and I have seen quite a few , this movie represents Hollywood the best. Unfortunately, not the best of Hollywood, but its worse.Art, in its absolute definition, comes from within the person, through a complex yet mandatory process, mainly deemed as "inspiration". An artist must be inspired in order to achieve any kind of work of art, be it a painting, a building, or anything creative.Movies are mainly a product of art and artists.However, I have developed, through my 1400 movies that I have watched, a certain ability to detect uninspired movie directors, and boy Mel Brooks is one.This is my explanation of why this movie is so unfunny, distasteful, and even offending in its jokes: a director forced to continue to produce "comedies", at any cost. He is completely uninspired here, and as we saw it, art, and especially jokes, must come from within. They cannot be forced. If they are, then movies like this spurt out inexorably, like snakes in the desert.For the record, I have never considered Mel Brooks, nor his films, funny. How many times did you laugh while watching Life Stinks? I bet it is not more than 3 or 4 times, and probably a mild chuckle. And this is supposed to be a comedy...4/10, and I am giving 4 because at least he TRIED to make us laugh, which is much harder than it sounds.

Callous rich mogul developer Goddard Bolt (Mel Brooks) plans to buy an L.A. slum to build his vanity project. Developer Vance Crasswell (Jeffrey Tambor) owns the other half of the property. Vance bets him the property that he couldn't survive in the slums without any of his money for 30 days. Homeless Molly (Lesley Ann Warren) comes to his rescue when two crazy thugs try to rob him.A rich man bets to live as a poor man. Sadly for Mel, it's been done better and funnier. The problem starts with the black kid dancing for money. It's so old that it's cheesy. This sets off the main conflict for me. Is this going to take some real swipes at poverty or is this a broad spoof? It tries to do both and comes up short on both accounts. Just as I grow interested in the mentally disturbed Molly, she says she's faking it. The story takes an interesting turn but the resolution is uninspired. The movie is mostly not funny enough.

"Life Stinks" is a somewhat uneasy mixture of drama, dark comedy, and slapstick. As opposed to many of Brooks other movies, there is an actual story being told, rather than just a series of almost unrelated sketches. The first half (dark comedy and drama) is much better than what follows, which is mostly slapstick. Brooks is believable as the displaced millionaire living among derelicts in order to win a bet. Lessley Ann Warren is also very good as a bag lady. Although somewhat damaged by the uneven script, "Life Stinks" is entertaining, and you cannot help but come away with a sympathetic view of the homeless people. I say this, go in expecting drama, with some laughs, and you will be pleasantly surprised. - MERK

Seeing as the vote average was pretty low, and the fact that the clerk in the video store thought it was "just OK", I didn't have much expectations when renting this film.But contrary to the above, I enjoyed it a lot. This is a charming movie. It didn't need to grow on me, I enjoyed it from the beginning. Mel Brooks gives a great performance as the lead character, I think somewhat different from his usual persona in his movies.There's not a lot of knockout jokes or something like that, but there are some rather hilarious scenes, and overall this is a very enjoyable and very easy to watch film.Very recommended.