The problem with Rodney Dangerfield’s starring films is that Dangerfield is too funny – he’s such an extreme life of the party that the production stalls and stagnates whenever he’s not on the screen. “Back to School” is typical of this problem. As Thomas Mellon, the cheerfully vulgar owner of a chain of plus-size clothing stores – “Fine woolen, and woolen-blend suits and sport coats, in all the larger sizes: husky, stout, extra-stout, and the new Hindenburg line” – Dangerfield enrolls in the same college where his unhappy son is struggling and turns higher education on its head. Whether clashing with high-minded academics on the realities of running a business or partying with a distinctive rendition of “Twist and Shout” or reciting Dylan Thomas’ poetry with a brilliantly inappropriate coda or performing the “Triple Lindy” in a diving competition, Dangerfield was never funnier on the screen… read more >
