The ‘Burbs (1989)

Episode 438, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Well, Craig, we are kicking off a month. It was a hundred percent your idea Horror comedy month. I feel like this isn’t the first time we’ve done a horror comedy month, but maybe it is. 

Craig: I dunno. I I, I don’t know if we’ve ever done a full month.

I mean, we’ve definitely done horror comedies. I love. Horror comedies, hence this month. Yeah, I mean, it’s a great idea and I love theme month. So yeah, let’s just 

Todd: do 

Craig: it all. I know you love a theme month. Mm-hmm. I did, and I had several in mind, and I don’t wanna spoil ’em all. I want it to be surprises, but I don’t know if this is the movie that made me think of the month, but.

I knew I wanted to do this one first. 1980 nines, the burbs directed by Joe Dante. What is your history with this movie? 

Todd: Oh gosh. My history with this movie is nothing but lovely. We watched this a lot growing up and we loved it. I remember there being so many little catchphrases from this movie. Yeah. Some of which I kind of forgot until we started watching it.

I know we had it on video, probably recorded off the TV or something, but I do remember this was, uh, this came out at a time when Tom Hanks was still mostly doing comedies. Mm-hmm. I think even though I believe this was filmed before Big, they took a little time to get post-production finished and Big came out.

Before this? 

Craig: Yeah. I think this, I, they were filming this when Big came out. By the time this came out, he was nominated for something. I don’t, best actor, I guess. Yeah, I, I 

Todd: did 

Craig: he, was he just nominated or did he actually 

Todd: win? I just saw nominated, but I’m not sure. I think nominated. I don’t think he won an Oscar until Philadelphia because, right.

I think that’s right. This was right at the edge, right? Like at this point, Tom Hanks was a big name actor, but he was mostly known as a comic actor. Like he was in Bachelor Party and Splash and The Burbs and Big. And he was just doing all these goofy comedies. But everybody loved him. He was really, really good.

And I think it was around the time Big came out because he had a lot more serious heart. Later on, you know that movie’s got a lot of going on in it. I really love his performance in it. And so he had a nice little trajectory to his career. And then, if I remember correctly, because I remember distinctly watching the Academy Awards when he won the Oscar for Philadelphia, where I believe he played a gay man that was.

Kicked out of the military because he had aids. 

Craig: I don’t, I don’t know. 

Todd: And went to court about it. God, I should have looked this up beforehand, but it was something along those lines, and it was a completely serious role. And from then on he started getting more serious roles. And it’s hard to believe, but yeah, that, that, that was the Tom Hanks, that in the early eighties, nobody ever would’ve believed that he was going to grow up to be like the widely respected, serious actor that Tom Hanks is.

It’s like. He can do it all now. Yeah. And it’s really cool. Yeah, he’s really good. Yeah, he’s good in this. It’s full of stars. My understanding is that this movie wasn’t well reviewed when it came out. It had, some people liked it, some people didn’t, but everyone I know loved it and I think that it didn’t take long, especially on the home video market, for everyone else to just sort of unanimously fall in love with this movie.

Craig: Yeah. I was actually surprised to read that it was. Critically panned. It did pretty well because Big was huge and, and Tom Hanks was nominated, so like, it, it, it made its money back at least. Mm-hmm. But it, it was, I think, the worst reviewed movie of that year. And that’s crazy. I don’t get it. 

Todd: What was coming out, what kind of gems were coming out that year?

I gotta go back and look. 1989. Geez. 

Craig: Exactly 

Todd: like 

Craig: I, I don’t get it. I don’t think that I was aware of that at the time because like you, everybody that I knew thought it was hilarious. Like this is a movie, like you said, the same. I think we have pretty much the same experience. I don’t think we had it, but we would get really excited when it would come on, or we would rent it over and over again.

Yeah, because it’s hilarious. Yes. And. It’s also, it is horror. It’s a horror comedy. It leans heavy into the comedy. Yeah. As many of these that I have chosen are going to, so yeah. I hope that’s okay. Dear listener, 

Todd: I like what you chose. I, I’ve just gotta say, we’re not gonna spoil it, but I think that what you chose is a nice series of these, sometimes forgotten, sometimes underappreciated, but actually really lovely horror comedies.

It’s a gonna be a great month. Great month. 

Craig: Yeah, I think so too. And I just wanted to do something fun. I, you know, I wanna laugh. I, yeah, everything feels kind of serious and heavy these days. Yeah. And I just wanted to, let’s, let’s talk about something fun. And this is, and you know, you talk about Tom Hanks, this is kind of prime, Tom Hanks to me.

I love all Tom Hanks. Yeah, every Tom Hanks I love, he seems like just an a gem of a person. He’s a great actor, just he’s an American icon. He’s fantastic. I have nothing negative to say about him, but this is when I like him best. This and big where he’s still kind of playing more into the physical co