THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS (1983)

THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS (1983)

Tagline: Danger: Health Warning: Watching this movie may cause severe brain damage.

(Comedy, Romance, Like a Surgeon) [R]

I want you to run home and I want you to call the E.R. of North Bank General Hospital, 932-1000. Tell them to set up OR6 immediately and contact anesthesiologist Isadore Turek 472-2112 beep 12. Have him send an ambulance with a paramedic crew, light IV, D5NW-KVO. You got it?

In this movie, a world-renowned brain surgeon named Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr has perfected screw-top brain surgery. He ends up hitting a woman with his car and she ends up in the hospital. While there, he falls in love with her not knowing she is a femme fatale after his money. Meanwhile while in Vienna Dr. Michael meets another scientist into brains named Dr. Alfred Necessiter who is able to keep brains alive without artificial assistance but not for very long.  At some point, Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr falls in love with one of the brains. Insanity ensues. 

Admittedly when it comes to this movie I almost turned it off after the first half. I really like Kathleen Turner and Steve Martin for the most part, but every once in a while one of their movies is just a dud. The first half of this movie aside from one part where a little girl repeats a really hard request from Dr. Michael nearly word for word is nearly coma-inducing. However, as the second half of the movie kicks off, I started getting where they were going with some of the humor in this. Did it get out of control? Yes. Did it just completely go off the rails? Yes. Did it have some really terrible tacky moments? Of course. That aside, it was so clearly swinging for the nonsense fences that it succeeds in being brazenly out of control and even kind of funny. 

Acting wise this was probably more fun than challenging for Kathleen Turner (ROMANCING THE STONE) even given her own statements on getting involved. Turner plays the conniving Dolores Benedict and is definitely convincing in the role. Steve Martin (THE JERK) was solid as Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr but I have to say it was not one of my favorite roles of his. I might have actually liked him in THE BIG YEAR better, and that movie was just about birds. David Warner (TRON) was solid as Dr. Alfred Necessiter. I like that his character wasn’t necessarily good or evil, he was more just really weird. 

The score was just okay and the soundtrack was just a bit rough, but what was done well was some of the more over-the-top points of humor. I don’t want to say it was like AIRPLANE!, but it had some scenes that reminded me of that type of crazy humor. Even Dr. Alfred Necessiter who lives in an apartment has this crazy castle-looking interior with a full-blown Frankenstein-like laboratory. Bloody hell. It’s awkward but pretty cool and funny. 

I don’t suppose I loved this movie as much as others, but it does have some quirky charm if you are in the right mood. This one is definitely off the beaten path and I am pretty sure I had never even heard of it till about a week or two ago. I almost sat on this till next year’s ’80s reviews but decided to check it out due to the crazy title and poster. I guess one of the lessons here is don't use people or they might just find a brain to fall in love with. 

Overall if you don’t take this seriously, you stand a chance of having fun especially when it comes to the second half. This is a 4 out of 7. 

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