Hardly Working (1981) 20th Century Fox/Comedy RT: 90 minutes Rated PG (a single use of profanity) Director: Jerry Lewis Screenplay: Jerry Lewis and Michael Janover Music: Morton Stevens Cinematography: James Pergola Release date: April 3, 1981 (US) Cast: Jerry Lewis, Susan Oliver, Roger C. Carmel, Deanna Lund, Harold J. Stone, Steve Franken, Buddy Lester, Alex Henteloff, Leonard Stone, Britt Leach, Amy Krug, Stephen Baccus, Tommy Zibelli II, Billy Barty. Box Office: $8.8 million (US)
Rating: NO STARS!!!
Critics were barred from screenings of Hardly Working because, according to Jerry Lewis, they’re unable to understand his appeal unlike the masses that appreciate his brand of comedy. What a load of BS!
The plain truth is that Hardly Working is a bad movie. No, that’s understating it. Let me revise that statement. It’s atrocious on every conceivable level. It’s attains a level of incompetence and ineptitude never seen in movies released by a major studio. Is it any wonder that it sat on the shelf for two years (it was filmed in 1979) before somebody thought it was a good idea to release it?
I was 13 when Hardly Working came out and even at that young age, I was at a loss to understand how it qualified as entertainment. Hell, it’s barely a movie. It’s nothing more than a series of unfunny set pieces in which Lewis stumbles around spilling stuff and knocking things over, leaving a path of destruction in his wake. It goes on and on for 90 minutes until the movie finally ends and you can leave the theater assuming you haven’t already done so. Nothing remotely amusing occurs during this time making it an egregious waste of time and tolerance.
It can be argued that Hardly Working does have a plot, but only in the broadest sense of the term. Jerry Lewis plays an out-of-work circus clown looking to find his place in the world. Sadly, he’s afflicted with a terminal case of clumsiness. This basically means that he goes from job to job to job, getting fired from each one due to his tendency to wreak havoc and create catastrophes wherever he goes. His character’s name is Bo Hooper and he’s forced to move in with his sister (Oliver, The Disorderly Orderly) and her husband (Carmel, The Mothers-In-Law) after word comes down that the circus where he works is to be closed. His brother-in-law begrudgingly allows Bo to stay with them until he finds steady work. That could take a while. Bo tries his hand at a series of jobs- e.g. gas station attendant, bartender, glass factory and, in the movie’s most offensive bit, Japanese hibachi chef- until landing at the United States Postal Service as a mail carrier. His new boss Frank (Stone, The Wrong) runs out of patience quickly with his new employee and really goes through the roof when he discovers that he’s unknowingly dating his daughter Millie (Lund, Land of the Giants).
Before I continue with my review of Hardly Working, I’d like to briefly mention the product plugs that appear throughout. I distinctly recall the tie-in with Dunkin’ Donuts and the large poster that adorned the front window of the local DD for several weeks. In the movie, Lewis ogles the box of Dunkin’ Donuts sitting on his boss’ desk leading to an uncomfortable bit in which he tries to talk to Frank with his mouth crammed full. I wonder how much the company paid for this dubious endorsement. The other products plugged are as follows: 7 Up, Kellogg’s Raisin Bran, Goodyear and Budweiser. How can you tell if it’s a product plug? Simple. If the label can be clearly seen on-screen, then the company paid the producers for the privilege. In a scene at a shopping center, you can see a Woolco department store and an S&H Green Stamp redemption store. Talk about a dated movie, right?
Getting back to the business at hand, I hardly know where to begin in describing how truly awful a movie Hardly Working is. I suppose I should start by saying that it’s not the least bit funny. It’s not even funny by accident or for the wrong reasons. It is painful and excruciating. With some of the jokes, it’s like having your knuckles rapped with a butter knife. They’re so unfunny that it causes physical pain on top of psychological trauma. By way of example, I could choose any two scenes from the movie at random and they’d perfectly illustrate this point. However, I have a couple in mind that will more than serve this purpose.
Remember when I mentioned earlier Bo working as a Japanese hibachi chef? I wasn’t kidding. Sporting a thick pair of glasses, huge buck teeth and an exaggerated phony accent, it’s as offensive an imitation of a Japanese person as anything seen in a WWII-era Bugs Bunny cartoon. It’s the very epitome of political incorrectness. There’s no way a movie would get away with something like this today. The other scene involves Bo having a conversation with an unattractive old woman outside a hotel. If the woman seems familiar, it’s because it’s Lewis in drag. In his role as director, Lewis doesn’t even try to be creative with the scene. In lieu of trick photography, he employs over-the-shoulder shots with a stand-in wearing a wig.
As director, Lewis doesn’t seem to have the slightest idea regarding timing, the very soul of comedy. Scenes drag on for far too long and, more oft than not, to no avail. There’s no payoff at the end of the scenes, many of which are just pointless. I honestly don’t understand why certain people regard Lewis as a comedy genius. Point in case, Hardly Working opens with a series of clips from his earlier movies like The Bellboy, Cinderfella, The Errand Boy and Who’s Minding the Store? I didn’t laugh once, I didn’t even snicker, chuckle or smile. I don’t find Jerry Lewis funny at all. I’m not saying this as a critic; I’ve felt this way since childhood. He was 53 when he made Hardly Working; it’s sad, NOT funny, watching him still act the idiotic child. I should add that I do like Lewis as an actor when he does more serious-minded work like The King of Comedy and Funny Bones. Speaking of children, could they have found more annoying child actors than the ones that appear in Hardly Working? Bo’s nephew has an annoying habit of repeating everything his sister says right after she says it. These two kids got on my nerves, but they’re angels compared to Millie’s obnoxious brat of a son. The way he acts in front of Bo, the way he talks to his mother will make you rethink your position on child abuse.
Hardly Working sets a new low for incompetence. It hasn’t a single shred of wit, intelligence or style. The editing is especially bad. Once again, Lewis has no idea what he’s doing although some of the blame for this aspect of the movie belongs to Michael Luciano, the editor. But you can bet that Lewis was looking over his shoulder the whole time. There are continuity issues aplenty including Bo’s family disappearing from the movie about midway through, right after he spills a whole pitcher of milk all over his unamused brother-in-law. There may have been a point when Lewis wanted to make a statement about the effect unemployment has on the common man, but anything even remotely socially relevant is undermined by the idiocy and tomfoolery that goes on in Hardly Working. It’s possible Lewis wants the audience to feel sympathy for his character a la Charles Chaplin. Instead you feel pity for all those around him forced to suffer his foolishness. This movie fails on levels it wasn’t even trying for. The one and only interesting thing about Hardly Working is how incompetent it is. It should be used in film schools to illustrate how NOT to make a movie. There’s a smidgen of perverse joy watching this excuse for a movie crash and burn. Aside from that, it’s hardly worth it.
