The Stuff
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Movie Reviews of The Stuff
Movie Review: enough is never enough of the stuff
Summary: 5 Stars
When i was a little girl there was nothing I liked better than ice cream, now i'm a big girl and I've found someting I like even better, It's called the stuff, and believe me enough is never enough!Movie Review: hilarious !!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
me and my brothers bought this video years ago by chance, and even though it was a b movie, it was really funny,i now recommend it to everyone,classic spoof !!!!Movie Review: The goo is coming....
Summary: 5 Stars
Truly an 80s classic. Not to be taken too serious, but watch it for a laugh and some chilling moments. A good combination of both really.Movie Review: A camp classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Larry Cohen's best film about a yogurt monster. Goofy and fun, never a dull moment.Movie Review: Are You Eatin' It...Or Is It Eatin' You?
Summary: 4 Stars
One thing can always be said about the movies from writer/director Larry Cohen: They are both quirky and entertaining. And his 1985 flick THE STUFF is no exception. As with most of Cohen's work, THE STUFF is not meant to be taken seriously. Though it is a sci-fi/horror film, it's not all that scary. The superficial science-fiction and horror elements really only serve as a skeleton on which Cohen can grow a body of irony; the true muscle and flesh of THE STUFF is satire. Cohen's "plot" is intentionally campy and absurd, churning out blatantly wry comments on the obsessive consumerism and capitalistic opportunism prevalent in Western Culture.The story: A new dessert has captured the attention, as well as the pocketbooks, of the American consumer--The Stuff. The Stuff tastes great, is low in calories, and is apparently chock-full of all the nutrients the human body needs. Indeed, some folks have started eating it exclusively, much to the chagrin of the manufacturers of other desserts and food products. So the disgruntled competitors deploy their secret weapon: David "Mo" Rutherford (Michael Moriarty), an industrial spy and saboteur with a reputation for getting results. With the aid of Advertising Exec Nicole (Andrea Marcovicci) and cookie mogul "Chocolate Chip Charlie" Hobbs (Garrett Morris), Rutherford sets out to steal the secret ingredients of The Stuff. But when he and his cohorts learn that there is something at work more devious than just aggressive marketing tactics, Rutherford and crew take on a more noble pursuit as they work to destroy the addictive hold The Stuff has on the public and expose the product's evil, self-serving manufacturers and distributors.
The wonderful cast deserves a lot of credit for helping Cohen to realize the raw, biting satire of his script. Michael Moriarty gives a hilarious performance as smarmy but good-hearted industrial saboteur "Mo" Rutherford. His earnest but glib delivery of often absurd lines helps the audience to accept the character at face value. And Andrea Marcovicci does an affecting job as the Ad Exec who wants to help right the wrongs to which she's contributed. But best of all is the performance of SNL alum Garrett Morris. He is delightfully over-the-top as cookie mogul Chocolate Chip Charlie (an obvious send-up of real-life 1980s cookie peddler Famous Amos), a dethroned dessert king bent on revenge.
True, THE STUFF is not likely to go down in the annals of great speculative science fiction or classic chilling horror. It's too outrageously camp. But as satire or social parody, it's top-notch cinema. Cohen's tongue-in-cheek screenplay mercilessly hammers away at real-life problems like corporate expediency, cut-throat commercial competitiveness, less-than-honest product marketing and advertising, questionable health and nutritional information...and just about every other unethical practice associated with Western economics and consumerism. Though Cohen's basic premise is a bit off the wall, and though some of the film's special FX are a bit cheesy, the film works because it is peopled with three-dimensional characters that react plausibly to the outrageous situations in which they are placed. That, and it's just so damn funny.
The DVD, from those wonderful folks at Anchor Bay, offers a great-looking anamorphic widescreen digital transfer of the film, along with the requisite theatrical trailer. In addition, there is also a very informative and entertaining feature commentary with writer/director Larry Cohen himself! A disc that is well worth the reasonable price.