Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-Review by Prof. Popinjay

By odd coincidence it happened that I watched the films Modern Problems and Mr. 3000 one after the other. The two films could not be more different from each other and yet they had one thing in common. The main characters did not begin as admirable people. I’m all for character flaws. They make things interesting. But when the character is utterly unlikable, it’s hard for me to enjoy the movie.
Modern Problems is a 1981 Chevy Chase film wherein he plays a depressed jealous jerk who gets spritzed with toxic waste and develops telekinesis. He uses the newfound powers to get revenge on another jerk who keeps horning in on the female lead. There’s no real lesson learned. A feel-good ending was kind of tacked on and that was it. The movie didn’t seem to know if it was Matilda or the Exorcist. The darling Nell Carter was supposedly from Port Au Prince, but strangely didn’t have a Haitian accent, and was frequently interacted with in offensive ways. She did get the funniest line in my opinion though: “That jerk tooted up all of my demon powder! That’s the last straw!” Released on Christmas Day on an estimated 8 million dollar budget, surprisingly it grossed over 26 million. Chevy chase sold movie tickets like hot cakes back then. Too bad these particular hot cakes admitted one in to see a disappointing film.
Mr. 3000 is a baseball film released in 2004 and began with an equally unadmirable arrogant egotistical Stan, played by Bernie Mac. What made this film tolerable however is that you begin to see his fall and his steps toward reformation rather early on in the film. Bernie Mac has great charisma and when the character’s more admirable qualities begin to surface he becomes quite likable. Even when he has a brief relapse into arrogance, by this time in the film, your disappointment comes from a place of love for the character and you’re sad because you really want to see him succeed. In Modern Problems, when Chevy Chase’s character slipped back into depression and jealousy I just wanted the movie to be over because that film did nothing to make you care about him.
You’ve seen the situation in Mr. 3000 a million times but it never gets old for me. Of course he redeems himself. The question is how. The answer is always thrilling to see. Of all the redemption stories like this, Mr. 3000 is among the best in my opinion. It’s well written, frequently funny, and the story telling through cinematography is ingenious. The beer bottle catching scene left me goosebumps. So well done.