One word: UNDERRATED!
I'm always blown away by the number of people who have never seen this fucking movie. Let me tell you, if Jim Carrey had landed the role of Drop Dead Fred instead of Rik Mayyal (who does a fantastic job with the role, but let's face it, he's far from being a household name), then this would be one of the great all-time classic comedies of the 90s (probably...).
The premise is ingenious in that it's custom-made for hilarity. A shy, doormat of a woman opens a jack-in-the-box and unleashes her childhood imaginary friend who quickly turns her life upside-down and helps her deal with her overbearing mother and her jerkoff husband. Just the idea of a grown-up having an imaginary friend is forcing small drops of urine into my boxers as I type...and not from my recent bladder issues but from uncontrollable HILARITY!
Really the movie is a classic "whacko character enters the ordinary life of a normal individual and turns the whole thing upside-down but in a good way" premise. I feel like there's a million of these movies but not a single one comes to mind. Sure, some of the humor is sophomoric with poo, fart, and booger jokes galore but I imagine that's the kind of humor all our imaginary friends engaged in when we were kids. The best stuff comes as a result of no one else being able to see Fred except for Phoebe Cates (keeping her top on in this one) and him manipulating her hands or conversations that take place between Cates and (at least from everyone else's perspective) no one.
Drop Dead Fred also has genuine heart, and I think it deals with the trials and tribulations of transitioning from an almost-adult into full blown adulthood while tip-toeing on the right side of cheesy over sentimentality. It's the kind of movie that couldn't exist in today's blockbuster movie industry (even though they're trying to remake it with Russel Brand), but flourished in the 80s and early 90s, the kind of movie that made you laugh and still said something worth saying.
Watching Fred's antics always reminds me of my own imaginary friend who used to appear on the ceilings of bathrooms I used to use and watched me pee, but that's a story for another day...
Why It's Awesome: An adult with an imaginary friend...great premise and Fred's zany antics and occasional claymation gag fulfill the promise of the premise nicely.
Best Quote:
Fred: "You see, when something's not working, the best thing to do is tear it apart to make it better."
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