Scared Stiff

Scared Stiff

Director: George Marshall Cast: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Lizabeth Scott 

Don’t get those 2 stars mislead you: this is a bad film!It has possibly one of the most convoluted plot of any comedy I’ve seen. We were constantly confused about who was who and why they were doing whatever they were doing. Not that it matters a lot of course, the film is just an excuse for a few sketches more or less funny with Jerry Lewis and for Dean Martin to sing a few bland songs and kiss some random girls, one of whom he decides to marry within about 15 minutes after he first meets her. It’s all ludicrous of course and the film knows it (or at least I hope it does). At the time they were producing so many of these one after the other and I don’t think they cared too much about making a lot of sense. “Scared Stiff” clearly tries to evoke some those Abbot and Costello movies from the 40s and 50s which mixed comedy and horror. Needless to say, the comedy is hardly ever funny and the horror… well, it might have been scary in 1953 when this film was made, but it certainly pretty bland now. Jerry Lewis is pretty much on auto-pilot mode and very little of what he does is actually worth saving. Having said that I remember having fond memories of this from when I was really really young and my son seemed to have enjoyed it too (though I bet he was probably as lost as we all were about the plot). Certainly one to cross out from the Jerry Lewis list and hopefully never re-visit again. The only reason why it’s not getting the 1 star treatment is because I’m sure I’ve seen worst films and because I enjoyed seeing my son (who’s 8) having fun with it.