Hanks Off the Hook
"Bachelor Party" is one of those movies which has got better with age which is down to the fact it stars Tom Hanks not only before he became an Oscar winning actor but also in a movie which you wouldn't expect him to star in. I say that because whilst Hanks started his career in comedies this is a movie in a tradition of immature men behaving badly around women with big breasts. To put it simply "Bachelor Party" is a movie in the spirit of "Animal House" and it is glorious fun.
Rick Gassko (Tom Hanks - Splash) is getting married to Debbie (Tawny Kitaen) and his best friends to give him the send off to beat all send offs with a bachelor party to remember. But Debbie is a little uncomfortable as she doesn't want his party to be full of strippers and after her friends warn her decides to sneak in to keep an eye on him. But there are more problems a foot as Debbie's father thinks than Rick is an arseole and doesn't want him to marry his princess so gets behind Debbie's ex Cole (Robert Prescott) to try and win her back.
As you would expect "Bachelor Party" is 90% humour and 10% story with that 10% consisting of Debbie snooping on the bachelor party whilst Cole tries to sabotage things in order to win Debbie back. It is just enough to stop it from feeling completely pointless and just enough so that it doesn't dominate things and make it seem like it needs to tell a story.
As for that 90% comedy well it is exactly what you expect with lots of humour from men behaving immaturely whilst we get some slapstick from the whole sabotage side of things. The thing is that whilst it is all incredibly 80s it is still hilarious from an opening scene involving Adrian Zmed as a children's photographer coming on to a mother with big breasts to the snappy come backs that Rick fires back at both Debbie's father and Cole.
But the thing which really makes "Bachelor Party" so good is to watch Tom Hanks off the hook. Now Hanks has always been good at comedy and a scene where is preparing a meal is classic Hanks as he talks to himself whilst juggling meatballs but then watching Hanks diving on to a table with his head under a big breasted woman is surprising and hilarious. Hanks though is supported by a great bunch of actors such as Adrian Zmed and Barry Diamond who look like they could have come out of "Animal House".
What this all boils down to is that "Bachelor Party" despite now hitting 30 is still an incredibly funny and even more so with Tom Hanks off the hook and having fun as a man behaving badly. I would be lying if I said that "Bachelor Party" was great but is so funny that it deserves to be recommended viewing for all those who think their generation had the best sex comedies.
