Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again (1982) Paramount/Comedy-Horror RT: 87 minutes Rated R (language, sexual humor, nudity, drug use/references) Director: Jerry Belson Screenplay: Monica Johnson, Harvey Miller, Jerry Belson and Michael Leeson Music: Barry De Vorzon Cinematography: Philip H. Lathrop Release date: October 22, 1982 (US) Cast: Mark Blankfield, Bess Armstrong, Krista Errickson, Tim Thomerson, Michael McGuire, Neil Hunt, Cassandra Peterson, Jessica Nelson, Peter Brocco, Liz Sheridan, Belita Moreno, George Wendt, Virginia Wing, Michael Ensign, John Dennis Johnston, Sam Whipple, Barret Oliver, Tony Cox, Art LaFleur, Lin Shaye, George Chakiris. Box Office: $3.7M (US)
Rating: ***
Just like its main character, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again has two distinct personalities. Sometimes it’s a spoof of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Other times, it’s a drug comedy in the grand tradition of Cheech & Chong. Veteran TV director Jerry Belson (The Mary Tyler Moore Show) tries hard to reconcile the two and mostly succeeds. While it’s not as consistently zany as Airplane, it’s funny in the same dopey way the misadventures of stoner duo Cheech & Chong are funny. In other words, I like it.
Mark Blankfield (The Incredible Shrinking Woman) plays Dr. Daniel Jekyll, a world-renowned surgeon who announces his intention to retire from performing surgery in order to focus his efforts on his research. He’s been trying to create a formula- in the form of a white powdery substance, of course- to unlock man’s deepest survival instincts. It would eliminate the need for surgery altogether. His decision doesn’t go over too well with his boss Dr. Carew (McGuire, Partners) who already promised sickly billionaire Hubert Howes (Brocco, Fighting Back) that Jekyll would perform his upcoming operation, the world’s first “total transplant”. He threatens to cancel the doctor’s wedding to his daughter, bubble-headed snob Mary (Armstrong, Jaws 3D), if he refuses.
Jekyll falls asleep while working in his lab late one night and manages to accidentally snort some of the powder from yet another failed experiment. It transforms him from a wimpy workaholic to a drug-crazed sex maniac. And what a transformation it is! Hair and gold chains sprout from his chest. Rings grow on his fingers. A certain appendage grows larger. Dressed like a disco stud from 1979, Hyde heads off to find Ivy Venus (Errickson, Little Darlings), a foul-mouthed nightclub singer Jekyll treated in the ER earlier that day. After a night of wild sex, Jekyll is his old self again only now he’s addicted to the drug that brings out his animal instincts.
I was lucky enough to see Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again at the movies. It did so poorly, it was gone in a week. It took a little convincing on my part, but the parentals let me see it that Saturday afternoon. Only a handful of people showed up for the 1pm matinee. I laughed my head off at it. I thought it was one of the funniest things I ever saw. Keep in mind that I was 14 at the time and still hadn’t seen the uncut version of Animal House. Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again briefly appeared on HBO the following August before disappearing. I didn’t see it again until it finally came out on video in early ’87. I’ve watched it a few times since (okay, maybe more than a few) and still find it funny even if it isn’t necessarily a comedy classic. Believe me, it’s not.
I could point out that Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again is cheap and poorly made, but since when has that stopped me from enjoying a silly comedy riddled with corny humor and dirty jokes? You’re talking to somebody who really likes Screwballs and Night Patrol. Sure, not all of the jokes in Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again land, but the hit-to-miss ratio is definitely in the hit zone. If I’m being completely honest, I enjoyed it more than Young Doctors in Love, the other hospital-set spoof that came out that year.
Blankfield, one of the cast members of the short-lived SNL knock-off Fridays, does a good job in both title roles. He’s believable as a mild-mannered, clueless sort frightened by his newly-discovered split personality. Jekyll is the type that doesn’t even think about sex; he’s too invested in his work to see his fiancee has physical needs. When he becomes Hyde, he’s a complete wild man. He does crazy things. He orders chicken sushi at the Japanese punk rock club where Ivy performs. He moons a nun. He sniffs around like a dog for Ivy at a supermarket. When he takes a plane to London to receive the “Putzpuller Prize”, he rides on the outside of the plane. At the ceremony, he performs a song (“Hyde’s Got Nothing to Hide”) and full monty striptease before being chased through the dark London streets by angry audience members in a B&W sequence. By all rights, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again should have made Blankfield a big comedy star, but it didn’t.
Armstrong does good work as the prissy pea-brained fiancee who greets patients in the hospital’s charity ward with “Hello, sick people!” BTW, the name of the hospital is Our Lady of Pain and Suffering. Errickson is better as a nymphomaniac who longs for a more mundane existence with Jekyll. I always found her sexy and appealing. Tim Thomerson (The Wrong Guys) co-stars as a plastic surgeon who takes breast augmentation to extremes in one of the movie’s silliest scenes. Character actor John Dennis Johnston (48 Hrs.) shows up as the guy who agrees to donate both of his testicles for Hubert Howes’ total transplant. Look also for the great Lin Shaye as a horny nurse.
At my age, I probably shouldn’t laugh at Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again like I do, but since when do I care what others think of my taste in movies? I call it a guilty pleasure, but I’m not ashamed of liking it. I’ll tell you what, it’s a hell of a lot funnier than most of the crap passed off as comedy these days. I could cite funny scene after funny scene, but why spoil it? Instead, I’ll talk about a missing scene that I distinctly recall from the theatrical version. After the breast augmentation incident (BIG HUGE FAKE BOOBIES!), Thomerson’s character puts the air hose down his pants with the intention of doing the same to his you-know-what. Why did they lose this scene? They ought to put it back in.
In any event, I will go on record with my love for Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again. Sure, it’s dumb and dirty, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
