Nobody’s Perfekt (1981) Columbia/Comedy RT: 96 minutes Rated PG (language, some violence, sexual humor) Director: Peter Bonerz Screenplay: Tony Kenrick Music: David McHugh Cinematography: James Pergola Release date: August 14, 1981 (US) Cast: Gabe Kaplan, Alex Karras, Robert Klein, Susan Clark, Paul Stewart, Alex Rocco, Arthur Rosenberg, James Cromwell, Bobby Ramsen, John Di Santi, Will Knickerbocker, Peter Bonerz, Harold Bergman. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
It’s time for another trip down Amnesia Lane. In my never-ending quest to relive simpler times, I decided to watch the comedy Nobody’s Perfekt for the first time in 20+ years. What, you’ve never heard of it? [Insert brief dramatic pause] That’s okay, you’re not alone in this. I’m sure there’s a long, LONG list of people that don’t know of it either. As your friendly neighborhood Movie Guy, I’m part of an elite group that remembers pretty much every movie.
Although it opened in August ’81, Nobody’s Perfekt did NOT open in Philly. I would have noticed if it did. At 13, my life revolved around the cinema. I always knew what was playing and where. Also, it starred Gabe Kaplan from one of my favorite childhood sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter. Trust me on this, it didn’t play here.
Flash forward to spring ’83 when my dad finally relented and had cable TV installed. I wasted no time in catching up on titles that I missed during their theatrical run for one reason or another. One of them was Nobody’s Perfekt. It was one of many movies I watched several times in part or in whole. I thought it was funny then and still do now. It’s certainly funnier than a lot of what studios attempt to pass off as comedy these days.
Directed by Peter Bonerz (The Bob Newhart Show), Nobody’s Perfekt centers on three friends with mental problems. Dibley (Kaplan) suffers from frequent memory loss. How bad is it? He often forgets how to drive… while he’s driving. He has the same problem during sex. Swaboda (Karras, Blazing Saddles) is perhaps too close to his mother. NO, I don’t mean that! It’s a PG movie, get serious. It’s more of a Harvey situation. He’s the only one that can see her. Although she’s been dead for a while, he imagines she’s still right by his side. Walter (comedian Klein) has three personalities that surface at different times. When he’s not Walter, he’s either “Rocky” or “Kitty”. Rocky is a tough-talking gangster not unlike James Cagney; Kitty is a chain-smoking Bette Davis-type with a gorgeous wardrobe. Needless to say, they’re an interesting threesome.
The plot is one of those “you can’t fight City Hall…. or can you?” deals. While driving home from therapy, Dibley’s car is totaled after he hits a humongous pothole. When the bureaucrats at City Hall tell him there’s nothing that can be done about it, Dibley and friends take matters into their own hands with an elaborate plan to make the mayor pay the $650 (plus expenses) to which they’re entitled. I’ll only say it involves “borrowing” a howitzer from the military. They’re helped by Dibley’s extremely tolerant girlfriend Carol (Clark, Porky’s). While executing their plan, they find the time to foil three bumbling crooks trying to rob an armored car.
Okay, so Kaplan, Karras and Klein aren’t exactly the Marx Brothers (although Kaplan did play Groucho in a TV movie) and Bonerz isn’t Chaplin. So what? I never said Nobody’s Perfekt was a comedy classic. I merely said it’s one I happen to enjoy. Judging by the reviews I found on-line, it would appear I’m in the minority on this. I wouldn’t be the first time and it certainly won’t be the last. Admittedly, I give a lot of leeway to movies from my misspent youth. It’s a combination of nostalgia and appreciation of their purity in form. Nobody’s Perfekt is far from perfekt…. I mean, perfect. Early on, it looks like the new therapist (Cromwell, Babe 1 & 2) at the guys’ clinic is being set up as a nemesis, but it gets dropped immediately. Why spend the time introducing the guy if he’s not going to be used later?
The producers didn’t spend a crapload of money on Nobody’s Perfekt yet still managed to cast name actors who look like they’re having a blast trying to outmug each other without resorting to crude humor and dialogue laced with f-bombs. Klein is especially hilarious with his changing personalities. There’s nice chemistry among K3 (as I like to call them), but Clark almost steals the show as the hapless girlfriend/lone voice of reason forced to take part in the boys’ shenanigans be it as a nun on roller skates or a stripper on a motorboat. Alex Rocco (The Godfather) adds to the fun as the criminal mastermind known simply as “The Boss” leading the robbery.
Now for the $64,000 question, is Nobody’s Perfekt funny? I think it is. Bonerz, who would later direct Police Academy 6, goes for the funny bone via slapstick and other silly shtick. Although it sounds like it’s in bad taste making fun of mentally ill people, that is definitely NOT the case here. At no time is Nobody’s Perfekt ever mean-spirited or offensive. The characters’ issues are more like eccentricities than anything else. If you think about it, the idea of a trio of “crazies” taking on the system is actually inspired. You have to be crazy to think you can beat the system.
The point is I like Nobody’s Perfekt very much. It’s silly, funny and goofy. It encompasses everything I remember about PG comedies from the early 80s right down to David McHugh’s comical score. It’s a good flick. It always puts a smile on my face.
