Going Overboard (1989) Trimark/Comedy RT: 97 minutes Rated R (pervasive language and sexual references) Director: Valerie Breiman Screenplay: Valerie Breiman and Adam Rifkin (uncredited) Music: Steven “Scooby” Scott Smalley Cinematographer: Ron Jacobs Release date: May 12, 1989 (US) Cast: Adam Sandler, Tom Hodges, Burt Young, Scott LaRose, Liza Collins Zane, Adam Rifkin, Peter Berg, Valerie Breiman, Ricky Paull Goldin, Warren Selko, Steven Brill, Billy Zane, Allen Covert, Chris Bogard, Milton Berle, Billy Bob Thornton. Box Office: N/A
Rating: NO STARS!!!
Oh, it’s true! The “comedy” Going Overboard is every bit as bad as you’ve heard, possibly worse. It probably never would have even seen the light of day had it not been for star Adam Sandler’s post-SNL success in Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore. It actually received a limited release in ’89, but not in Philadelphia. It was nice of the distributor to spare the City of Brotherly Love the pain and indignity. I do remember it being released on home video circa summer ’96 and having no desire to watch it. I wasn’t even the least bit curious to see Sandler’s debut. To coin a phrase I learned as a teen from a friend’s father, I wouldn’t have crossed the street to watch it. I should have stuck to my guns.
I don’t know what possessed me to watch Going Overboard. Can I plead temporary insanity? LOL! The truth is I occasionally like to watch a movie I know is bad so I can rip into it without mercy. I hit the mother lode with Going Overboard. It’s so bad, it’s surreal. It’s like one of those cheap, dirty-minded comedies that played on late night cable TV in the 80s. Sandler’s character, who talks to the camera a lot during the movie, even admits it’s a “no-budget movie”. Proof of his statement is crystal clear throughout the movie’s 97 agonizing minutes.
Who else but Adam Sandler would play a character named Shecky Moskowitz? He’s a cruise ship waiter who dreams of being a stand-up comedian. He’s the kind of doofus who gets no respect from anybody, least of all the ship’s unfunny comedian Dickie Diamond (La Rose, Booty Call). How this obnoxious creep is so popular with everybody else is beyond comprehension. Shecky finally gets his chance to show his stuff when Dickie presumably falls off the ship and drowns. In actuality, he locks himself in his bathroom proving he’s as big an idiot as everybody around him, possibly bigger.
Shecky’s problem is a relatively major one, he’s NOT funny. The audience, which includes Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa) in a brief early role, actually hates him. What this fellow needs is some sound advice and who better than Milton Berle (as himself) to teach Shecky how to be funny. King Neptune (Zane, Titanic) also shows up to give counsel. A stupid subplot has General Noriega (Young, the Rocky movies) sending a couple of his guys to kidnap Miss Australia (Zane, Tombstone) from the ship after she insults him by publicly saying he smells like old pizza. For whatever reason, the movie often cuts away to Miss Universe contestants responding to questions. Naturally, it’s on Shecky to protect her.
Everybody involved with Going Overboard ought to be ashamed of their involvement in this turd of a “comedy”. This includes everybody from Sandler to the guy that sweeps up at the end of the each day’s shoot. It’s a perfect example of a moron movie. It’s made by morons for morons. Let me revise that last statement. It’s badly made by morons for morons. It’s bad across the board. It’s badly written, directed, acted, scored and shot. It’s bad enough if a comedy simply isn’t funny; it’s worse when it begs you to laugh at it anyway. Going Overboard is pathetic that way. The jokes are labored, forced and sometimes dragged out to unbearable lengths. Every feeble attempt at humor falls flat. It’s a wonder Sandler continued to get work after this movie. Did SNL creator Lorne Michaels see it before he hired Sandler? My guess would be no since he hired him.
Going Overboard is terrible to the point where even Sandler’s natural goofy, good-natured way doesn’t make it any less painful. I don’t think anybody or anything could have salvaged this sunken ship of a “comedy”. La Rose is horrible; I wanted to kill his character with my bare hands. Young embarrasses himself with his stereotypical Latin American heavy. I did NOT need to see him sniffing his socks. That’s just gross. Can somebody please explain why a comedy great like Berle felt compelled to appear in crappy movies in the latter part of career? I thought he hit bottom with the 1983 Jerry Lewis “comedy” Cracking Up (aka Smorgasbord). Going Overboard is lower than that. It falls right through the bottom into the abyss of awfulness.
First-time writer-director Valerie Breiman, an actress whose most prominent role is a supporting part in Casual Sex, clearly has no idea what she’s doing. Going Overboard is one of the most sloppily-made movies I’ve ever seen. And with all the hot babes walking around, there’s not a single pair of naked boobs. You’d think the makers would take advantage of the R-rating and throw in some nudity to appeal to teenage boys. I honestly don’t know what’s going on with this movie. It’s so atrociously bad that I debated giving it a half-star rating for being a curiosity. HOWEVER, that would imply I recommend it on some level and I don’t. On the contrary, I’m warning you to avoid it all costs. There is absolutely NOTHING to see. It doesn’t amuse; it just causes pain and misery. It should have been scuttled long before it left port.
