A Major Disappointment

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

On the way to a baseball game, sanitarium patients get stranded in New York City after their chaperone is hospitalized and they're being pursued by criminals. The Dream Team is a 1989 comedy starring Michael Keaton, Christopher Lloyd, Peter Boyle, Stephen Furst, Lorraine Bracco and Dennis Boutsikaris. This movie caught me by surprise not only it was hilarious and touching but you also have this 4 different types of people one hardly talks, the other one thinks is a doctor, then the next one thinks is god and finally Keaton has anger issues all 4 men give outstanding performances and honestly everyone did what they had to do nicely. Movies such as this are the reason why 80's were so awesome real funny lines not jokes about farts and adult language every 5 minutes or even nudity. This is a smart comedy just think of it as One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest but only funnier. I give it a 10 out of 10 of course!!!

The Dream Team is directed by Howard Zieff and written by John Connolly and David Loucka. It stars Michael Keaton, Christopher Lloyd, Peter Boyle, Stephen Furst and Lorraine Bracco. Music is by David McHugh and cinematography by Adam Holender.Billy Caulfield (Keaton)-compulsive liar and prone to violent outbursts; Henry Sikorsky (Lloyd)-tidy freak who thinks he's a doctor; Jack McDermot (Boyle)-thinks he's Christ; Albert Ianuzzi (Furst)-near catatonic personality who can only speak in sports jargon. There are people, and perhaps even that little old angel on your shoulder from time to time, that tell you that one shouldn't make fun of the afflicted; case in point folk with mental issues. So it be with this here amusing picture, a film that basically sees four odd balls let loose in New York as they try to find their missing doctor and foil the couple of dirty cops who want to silence said doctor for good. Yet Zieff's film is neither crass or stupid, the comedy is well drawn, with the characters themselves not the danger to society kind, but the misfit sort who are struggling to fit into said society. Looking in at it a bit deeper, film has valid points about acceptance, messages about understanding, friendships and collective group unity being powerful. Even the effects of work pressure is given a sardonic glance. It's not like the makers set out to offend, pic never even sails close to the wind, evidently they clearly set up to entertain and amuse, and that goal is achieved royally because The Dream Team is awfully funny. Does Ed go out of the window? Let's have a show of hands. You can vote too, Ed. This is America. It's a smart collection of actors playing the "afflicted" guys, four actors very comfortable with each other and enjoying the benefits of a strong script. Each one is handed great comedy moments to act out, neither left out and neither disappointing. Boyle arguably steals the film by way of some excellent visual comedy, but it's most likely Keaton's caustic observations and one line zingers that will leave the lasting impression. The final quarter gets a bit mechanical as the intrepid "nut buddies" finally bond and the film shifts to a basic chase/race against the clock affair, but the gags still come and you may find you are still laughing about something that was said earlier anyway! Bracco isn't given a lot to do, which practically renders this as being an ultimate buddy buddy guy flick, and the two "dirty" coppers played by James Remar and Philip Bosco are by the numbers villains. Small moans only, though, and in the name of good comedy, who cares really?It's great to be young and insane! Hell Yeah. 8/10

It pains me to see a movie where the characters- and the actors playing them more than anything- have more potential than the actual story. Watching it I'm reminded a little of a movie that came out also in 1989 or sometime around then called See No Evil, Hear No Evil with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. In it one is blind and one is deaf, and all through the picture Pryor and Wilder are never unconvincing in their parts, and even garner some big-to-small laughs. But the story is a clunker, a kind of 'gee-wiz' thriller that knocks their characters into stereotypical boxes that the actors then have to fight their way out of. The Dream Team has the main characters- a quick-fuse (Michael Keaton), an obsessive compulsive (Christopher Lloyd), a Jesus-delusional (Peter Boyle), and a common near-catatonic type (Stephen Furst)- set loose in New York City after their doctor, who's taking them out for a day out of the mental hospital to go to a Yankee game, gets knocked unconscious by a couple of cops in an alley. From there the characters are put into a kind of crux because a) they're stuck in the thin plot line of the cops being crooked and covering up a crime/needing to bump off the doctor, and b) the patients then got to help save their van and their doctor before anything worse happens.Now this doesn't mean there aren't some spots open for some good comedic touches, and a good few of them come out of Boyle's religious-nut character (one scene I thought was great was when he steps into a black baptist type service and until a certain point doesn't seem any crazier than the rest of the attendees), plus with a great heap-load of Jack Nicholson ala Cuckoo's Nest type attitude in Keaton's performance. But then the plot comes around again, reeling them into a clockwork fixture that keeps more interesting things from happening. While it doesn't stick well to suggest this as it's a late 80s style comedy (with the typical musical score with it, if you hear it you'll know that it sounds like any other score from the Hollywood comedy of the period), I wondered what would happen if the doctor getting knocked out was more random, or even if it was more severe, then there would be chances for a different kind of story, where the four of them would have to be left to their own devices, and see what would happen. There are hints of that, actually, but it doesn't really come to pass. In fact the filmmakers even try to throw in some touching moments or stuff to sort of wrap-around that the patients (even Furst's hard-to-talk character) are getting 'better', whatever that means in the loose context of a comedy-thriller. There is one that does work, where Lloyd goes to visit his family, and it actually rings true. But another supporting character of importance to the four, played by Lorraine Bracco, is almost a foil in the scheme of the picture. The ending, too, seems like a very cheesy stretch.Yet through all of this I kept on watching it, because I liked seeing the actors filling these roles splendidly, almost in spite of the script. It's probably a lot of fun, if not necessarily a challenge, to play a crazy person, and it doesn't seem like at all like the actors (Lloyd the exception) possibly observed or were around mental patients in preparation for the roles, unlike with 'Cuckoo's Nest'. They could've had more to work with in a better screenplay or stronger comedic direction, and because of it it's only memorable for little bits and pieces. Then again, that might be expected from the guy who directed My Girl and My Girl 2, and a remake of Unfaithfully Yours.

Some ferocious talents - Michael Keaton, Christopher Lloyd, and Peter Boyle, supported by a talented cast - star in this comedy about four mental hospital patients who roam New York freely after their doctor is severely beaten. One of them (Keaton) has severe anger issues, another thinks he's a doctor (Lloyd), and one thinks he's Jesus Christ (Boyle) and constantly quotes the Bible. The fourth never talks. Their well-meaning psychiatrist (Dennis Boutsikaris) drives them to New York to attend a Yankees game. When he escorts Albert, the non-talker, into an alley to relieve himself, he witnesses two bad cops killing a third and is severely injured before the good-guy police arrive. Albert takes off, but he can't tell the others what happened. After waiting in the van for a while, they all leave for parts unknown. Boyle ends up in a revival meeting giving testimony as Jesus, Keaton looks up his old girlfriend (an almost unrecognizable Lorraine Bracco) - soon, two sets of police are looking for them - with different motives.Though I certainly enjoyed this film, I found it a little slow getting started, and felt it could have been funnier, though the very beginning is great. It does pick up, however, and the acting is superb all around. Keaton is great - one wonders what happened to his career, and why we don't see his lively presence as much in films nowadays. Lloyd manages to be so serious that it's funny but also has a poignant scene with his family. Boyle has the funniest role and he's absolutely hilarious. The ending is very sweet.The movie doesn't make any profound comments on mental disorders but does ask who's crazy in this world and what we're willing to believe about certain people. It also makes the point that by interaction and someone caring, disturbed people can start on the road to healing. Very good and well worth seeing.