THE 'BURBS
A film review by Shane R. Burridge
Copyright 1996 Shane R. Burridge
(1989) 97m.
Director Joe Dante has an affection for small-town communities, even when he's unleashing all manner of havoc upon them. It's evident in his films, and is the subject of his 1991 television series EERIE, INDIANA. It should come as no surprise, then, to see his involvement in THE 'BURBS, a film devoted to the subject. Story takes place in the suburb of Hinkley Hills, where enigmatic, unseen neighbors have just moved into the rundown house next door to Tom Hanks and wife Carrie Fisher. Egged on by a couple of his neighbors, Hanks' paranoia about the new arrivals escalates to absurd heights. Picture runs out of steam before the end, as the more recognizable idiosyncrasies of suburbia in the opening sequences give way to situations that become increasingly outlandish, preventing the film from becoming the definitive statement on suburban neuroses that many moviegoers were no doubt hoping for. But if THE 'BURBS doesn't live up to its premise, it still works effectively as a kind of goofy homage to suburbanites. Dante's tendency towards cartoonish fantasy planes all satirical edges off the story: the neighborhood he gives us is the type of communal playground we would have liked to remember as children; a place of eccentric, comical inhabitants (Bruce Dern, Rick Ducommun, and Corey Feldman, to name a few), a weird gothic house (placed right in the middle of a cul-de-sac!), friendly feuding, spying, night-time strolls, and intrigue. The film ends with the enthusiastic line "I love this street", and by that time it's easy to share the sentiment. We realize that the characters belong in their suburban niche.
As with other Dante films, THE 'BURBS is rife with references to films and television - and his entire neighborhood set seems to be a product of that as much as any other source. Feldman invites friends over to watch a scene unfolding on the street as if it were part of a movie (which it is), and describes the activities of his neighbors to a date as if they were characters in a story (which they are). Dante fans are used to such self-referential treatment -- as usual, he puts his personal stamp on everything. One of my favorite sequences is nothing more than a walk down a path, which Dante shoots in flinty-eyed Sergio Leone-style closeups. It would be hard not to think that the cast must have had a ball making the movie -- even Dern plays it strictly for laughs, for a change. I can't help thinking it would come over better late at night at a drive-in. A good companion piece would be the surreal 1981 film NEIGHBORS. Other faces on the street include: Henry Gibson, Gale Gordon, and Dante regulars Robert Picardo and Dick Miller. Music by Jerry Goldsmith, who, in keeping with the film's in-joke style, drops in themes from his score for PATTON.
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