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RayPeterson wrote:
*Sniff, sniff*, do I smell blasphemy here?
I have to admit I take The Burbs as it is and thus it's pretty perfect for me.
However, there are two things that come to my mind:
1.) The beginning and the first half of the movie is very bright and creates a positive atmosphere while in the second half it becomes darker. I've also read an interview with the (it think it was) cinematographer and he also confirmed that during the first half they used for example different camera angles compared to the 2nd half so this was totally intended. However, I would have liked if the darker tones would have set in a little bit later, maybe in the last third of the movie.
2.) The ending. It always feels for me as if a better ending was possible. It partially becomes too "comical" for me (e.g. the fight between Ray and Dr. Klopek in the end). I would have also liked some kind of different twist at the end probably connected to a different message.<center><hr width="100%"/></center></blockquote></span>
Again, Lit major. Blasphemy is what I do. I've said some thing that I'm sure have sent Jane Austen's sexist, misogynistic ass spinning in her grave.
I'm really happy you brought up the end...that's kind of the main thing that bugs me. I read somewhere the original ending they screened had the Klopeks innocent, but the audiences thought it was "too sad" (they also did an end where Ray was killed by the Klopeks, but it was deemed too dark, too. Beside the point). That ending made so much more sense to me. We watched three grown men running around and acting like total douchebags (well, Ray was cool for most of it, but he went off the deep end toward the end, too), and having it pan out that they were right all along just felt...cheap, to me. The movie would have been so much smarter if they had kept the original end, and it really bums me out that they didn't. It's like it's rewarding Rumsfield and Art for their bad behavior. It could have sent the message of "just because someone is different doesn't mean they're bad/don't be a xenophobic dick", but instead it basically said "sure, privileged white American dude, hate everyone you want. Those two nice men down the block raising a kid? Totally part of the gay agenda, if you say so. That nice immigrant family across the street? Probably practicing black magic in their basement. Every negative thing you think about 'the Other' is 100% true, and you're totally justified in assuming they're that way. Hell, it makes you a better American." And I don't think that's what the movie thinks. At all. It's better than that. Joe Dante and Dana Olsen are better than that. Like I said, I truly love the movie, but in that respect, I feel like it's the smart girl who dumbs herself down in order to be popular, and it's just as depressing and disappointing to me as when I see a person doing it.
Also, Bonnie and Carol should have gotten a bit more to do. They were great characters, too, and I feel like they get less of a fair shake than the guys. Although I did realize the other day that the movie passes the Bechdel Test, which a disappointing number of my other favorite movies don't (the only other one that comes to mind is Alien). So good on you, 'Burbs!
