Modern Problems

I've been writing a lot about Chevy Chase lately. It seems that for every big hit he had, there was also a flop. A lot of his misses were actually pretty good. Case in point, 1981's Modern Problems.

Chase plays Max, an air traffic controller who has just lost his girlfriend Darcy, Patti D'Arbanville, because of his jealousy issues. One night while driving home, he and his car are doused with nuclear waste from a truck he is following. This gives Max telekinetic powers, which he uses to win back his ex. But during a weekend getaway with some close friends, Max's jealousy rears it's ugly head when an ego driven self help author named Mark, Dabney Coleman, tries to put the moves on Darcy. This makes Max's new found powers run amok.

Chase reteamed with his Groove Tube director Ken Shapiro for this film. And it's a pretty wild comedy. The cast, which also includes Brian Doyle Murray, Mary Kay Place, and Nell Carter, is pretty good. It's Coleman however that really steals the show. Talking in a lisp that's similar to the speech pattern he used in Dragnet, Coleman's Mark spouts out really idiotic rants that are hysterical.

Modern Problems is a lot of fun.

It's available on dvd.