The magic behind "The Burbs"

[RayPeterson]

Alright, let's get a little emotional here:

Watching “The Burbs” is always something really special to me. This movie succeeds in making me feel good and relaxed. I have to admit that “The Burbs” hardly makes me laugh out loud.

Nonetheless it manages to keep me smiling for about 100 minutes which is even harder to do. If I want to laugh I watch movies like “The naked gun” or “Airplane!”. But if I want to have this special cheerful feeling inside of me, I insert my “Burbs” DVD.

If we take a closer look at other boards and comments we can see that many people feel this way. We can even see people who claim that this movie has changed their life, prevents them from getting depressed and so on.

So what are the points which make this movie something so special?

In my opinion the light - hearted manner of “The Burbs” is caused by various aspects.

1.) The setting takes place in a beautiful and idyllic cul – de – sac with lovely and expensive houses and a marvellous nature setting in which everyone of us would like to live as well.

2.) Furthermore it’s summer vacation - time and we certainly all agree: That’s the best time of the year!

3.) The neighbours in Mayfield place are a bunch of very different but nonetheless very amiable persons. Let’s focus on Ray, Art and Mark. Their behaviour reminds us of our own childhood days when we were snooping around in the neighbourhood, pretending we were cops, private eyes or something similar. And Joe Dante expressed this by making the three guys act like children from time to time (remember the scene when Art and Rumsfield stroll away after Carol gets angry with them?).

4.) The only problem in this movie are the Klopeks. No other problems are discussed. Nobody talks about war, poverty, being afraid of unemployment (a very urgent topic here in Germany these days), getting cancer, losing family members and so on. It’s just about living in Mayfield place and dealing with some strange neighbours. Great.

5.) Even in darker moments (Ray’s dream; the end of the movie) the dark scenes are so completely overdrawn that you still keep on smiling.

Currently I’m thinking about more points. I would like to know: why does this movie mean something special to you? Which points would you list here?

 

[Art_Weingartner]

('children' - add on to 3, when Mark says "do what? we agreed to do it together..." and press the doorbell at the same time lol. Art's face is a picture...excited like a kid. And for someone like Rummy - a military man! - it's rather childish. But probably good fun for him)

I commend you on this topic, Ray.

Hmmm well.

I think you hit on a very moot point on number 3. I remember snooping around just like these guys did. It touches me in a very tangible and real way evoking many memories. And it was exciting. The cold, dark evening...snooping round people's gardens and yards.

Another thing is the guys are all married. They're not kids. The wedding rings are shown in shot a lot. This leads me to believe there is a message of "hey...don't matter if you're older, married, have kids etc...you don't have to grow up! There's still that mischievous kid in all of us".

For me, too, when I think back to 1997 it was a very good year for me. I'd finished all my studying for A levels etc, and was starting at University (an Honours Degree in Criminology, which I passed in 2000). I swear, I watched the burbs each and every sunday night without fail for 2 years. I'd stay up late, sleep in, drink a couple of hundred beers. It was fantastic. I always remember that. One thing I liked about it was the bright, sunny opening credits "Rosanna Norton" seen in the paperboy's shiny bike spokes. And the rainstorm. I remember watching it one sunday night when we had a rainstorm, and I remember at about 2am going into the kitchen and looking out and seeing my neighbours getting in a car - no headlights. Bizarre.

I like the fact that Art is desperate to get Ray and Mark as involved in the theory as possible and snoop. He's like a little kid, knocking on windows and ducking down...asking if Ray can come out (and play). Stalking birds with his rifle. Just a great, great movie. Good post.