Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Steve Martin had an enormous box office hit in his first starring role as The Jerk. That film was directed by veteran comedian Carl Reiner. Reiner's next three films also featured Martin: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, The Man with Two Brains and All of Me.

The Reiner-Martin collaborations were all silly comedies that played to Martin's established television persona as a 'wild and crazy guy'. An early attempt by Martin to expand his range resulted in the musical flop Pennies From Heaven. But his comedies with Reiner were not doing well, either. The Man with Two Brains grossed only about ten million, a fraction of the business for The Jerk.

The problem was that audiences recognized the formula, without appreciating how well it was done. The story for The Man with Two Brains is actually fairly complex, and there is even a moral. People should be judged by their character and personality, and not by their bodies.

Those who saw the previews probably expected little more than mad scientists and slapstick, and passed on the offer. It didn't help that the bawdy humor gave the film an 'R' rating. But if anyone went to see Porky's II: The Next Day instead, they missed a very good comedy.

Yes, the plot was silly. Martin plays renowned brain surgeon Hfuhruhurr, who saves the life of gorgeous but sneakily sadistic Dolores (Kathleen Turner). They soon marry, with Hfuhruhurr led to a nervous breakdown. The good news is that he finds true love, with Ann Uumellmahaye (voiced by Sissy Spacek). The bad news is that Ann is a disembodied brain, with whom Hfuhruhurr can only communicate through telepathy. If only Ann's brain could be put into the body of Dolores...

Sometimes the movie really is too silly. Martin crawls across the side of a building, using his hands as suction pads to hold his weight. As with another comedy from 1983, Trading Places, love with a caged gorilla figures into the plot. I know it's a comedy, but wouldn't injecting Kathleen Turner with window cleaner make her brain available, and not her body?

But much more often, the gags work. A street urchin has amazing memory skills. Martin has to pass a 'really hard' Austrian drunk driving test. The identity of the Elevator Killer has become a movie inside joke. Turner has a great time parodying her femme fatale character from Body Heat. Reiner knows how to generate humor from sexual situations, without resorting to lame jokes about bodily functions.

I currently have The Man with Two Brains pegged as the third best comedy of 1983, after Trading Places and A Christmas Story. No film should be condemned for its silly plot if the writing, direction and spirit make the story work. (76/100)

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older