Bogey

In my recent efforts to see a bunch of well-known movies I've somehow missed, I watched Caddyshack the other night. I'd actually caught parts of the movie here and there on the many, many occasions it's been shown on television -- a scene here, a scene there. But I'd never sat and watched the movie all the way through.

At least, that's what I thought.

As the movie rolled on, each scene was somehow as familiar to me as the last. And a few times, I was suddenly even able to recall what scene was coming next. By somewhere around the halfway point, I realized/decided that actually, I had seen Caddyshack before. In its entirety. Which I think speaks to some major flaws with the movie.

When it comes down to it, Caddyshack is one of the most disjointed comedies I can think of. Each of the major characters, as played by Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, and Bill Murray, feels like they come from a completely different movie. Each is doing his own schtick. (Hell, Bill Murray's character only even has one scene with the rest of the main cast.) They don't blend together well at all.

The plot is similarly piecemeal, to what extent there even is a plot. The movie is supposed to be about a young caddy trying to earn money to go to college, but as said caddy is not played by Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, or Bill Murray, the movie (probably rightly) spends little time on his story. Instead, there are unconnected vignettes from "playing the perfect game in the middle of a torrential rain storm," "a wild party in a swimming pool," "being caught in bed with your girfriend by her parents," and so on and so on. The movie is, essentially a series of five-minute sketches with a little bit of character continuity and an occasional central theme of golf.

To be fair, some of the sketches are funny. Bill Murray wrings more out of his meager "man-against-gopher" subplot than any other comedian probably could manage. Rodney Dangerfield's "do-it-all golf bag" provides some good prop comedy. But none of that changes the fact that ultimately, there isn't really a movie here, just a high-budget episode of Saturday Night Live.

When it comes down to it, all the big names you'd watch this movie to see have far better movies on their resumés. Go watch Chevy Chase in Fletch, or even the less-widely-praised Modern Problems. Watch Back to School for Rodney Dangerfield at his best. (His best; I'm not sure I'd call it all that great.) For Bill Murray, hell, take your pick -- Ghostbusters, Stripes, Scrooged, Groundhog Day... and that's not even getting into his more recent work.

In short, I found Caddyshack good for a few laughs, but certainly not lasting ones. How else could it be that I was able to have watched the entire movie at some point a few years ago and then completely lost the memory of having done so? I rate the movie a D+.