Personal artistic sensibilities dictate the films that appeal to each of us. A popular film getting rave reviews can appeal to a wider demography, but fail to excite certain factions. Alternatively a film deemed poor by “respected” film critics can appeal to factions that appreciate certain creative slants in “poorly” rated films. Your artistic tastes dictate the films you love. Don’t feel bad if films you love are ridiculed by critics and the ones you loathe are praised. Trust your instincts without guilt. Below are five underrated cult comedy classics that I shamelessly love.
Principal Takes a Holiday (1998)
Parents promise John Scaduto (Zachery Ty Bryan), a rowdy high school senior and prankster, $10,000 if he stays out of trouble in his final year. Any hint of trouble will cause him to lose the money that his grandmother donated. But a prank he planned in advance occurs before he can stop it. The prank leaves the strict school principal Frank Hockenberry (Kurt Fuller) covered in toxic, red dye and mistakenly diagnosed and quarantined in hospital. That goes into Scaduto’s mischief record and he won’t get the promised money, unless it’s erased. Depressed, Scaduto by luck intercepts a fax with the name of the new temporal principal. The school staff doesn’t know what the temporal principal looks like. So Scaduto grooms and brings in an oddball, goofy, homeless man Franklin Fitz (Kevin Nealon) to act as the temporal principal and delete the mischief record. What follows are comical mishaps the fake Principal Fitz orchestrates, while interacting with doubtful staff and students. Scaduto also has to control Fitz and focus him on the mission to erase the mischief record from the school’s database to get the $10,000. To make matters worse, Hockenberry's return to the school looms after his release from quarantine.
The Wrong Guy (1997)
Nelson Hibbert (Dave Foley) is a dorky and kiss-ass employee engaged to be married to the CEO's daughter. After getting passed for promotion, he melts down during a board meeting and threatens to kill his CEO, Mr. Nagel (Kenneth Welsh), as he is dragged out by security. After the board meeting, he storms into Mr. Nagel’s office to give him a piece of his dorky mind. After ranting at Mr. Nagel for minutes without getting a response, Mr. Nagel slumps onto the desk. He has a knife sticking behind his neck. Mr. Nagel is dead, and the paranoid Hibbert assumes he will be implicated in the murder. Unknown to Hibbert, CCTV cameras captured the face of the intruder who killed Mr. Nagel before he stormed in. Hibbert assumes he is a fugitive and runs. Through comical coincidences, Hibbert keeps inadvertently bumping into the killer (Colm Feore) in various locations. The killer assumes Hibbert is following him since each time they meet, police by coincidence appear too. Hibbert paranoid antics and the series of slapstick coincidences make this movie a comical gem.
High School High (1996)
Richard Clark (Jon Lovitz), a disillusioned prep school teacher, naively takes up a job at a dangerous, poorly performing, inner city, school. In order to address the school’s poor performance, he has to first ensure he stays alive. That’s a tall order because within the first minutes of his arrival, his car and briefcase are stolen. Clark is left standing in the car lot puzzled. The school is a haven for gang violence, drugs, robberies, riots, teacher kidnapping, and teenage pregnancies and other vices. Principal Evelyn Doyle (Louise Fletcher) has given up on the students after being on the receiving end of many antics by the students. She has no hope for the students making it to college and during a speech; she announces the upcoming career day will have the US marines and Michigan Militia recruiting. Against all odds Clark, inspires the D-average students using unconventional interactions and teaching methods. But when Principal Doyle gets jealous of Clark’s achievement, big trouble ensues.
The Lady Killers (2004)
Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr (Tom Hanks) is an eccentric and charming man who speaks old Shakespearean English, and he claims to be a university professor. But he is a crook that dresses like a man from the 19th century. Dorr plans to rob a Casino but has to tunnel to its underground cash vaults, through an old lady’s house basement. Using classifieds, he assembles strange characters and instructs them to pretend to be classical musicians. Dorr plans to use the men to dig a tunnel from the lady’s house and access the casino’s cash vault. To do that, he charms the religious and strict old lady Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall) into renting her basement to them. Though suspicious, Munson allows them to practice after laying the ground rules. Dorr tells her that they will use the basement as space to rehearse classical music with his talented band of “musicians.”
Pop Rocks (2004)
Jerry “Dagger” Harden (Gary Cole) is a bank loan officer married with children and leading a monotonous life in the suburbs. His humdrum life gets interrupted when Izzy (David Jensen), an unkempt man, shows up at the bank where the polished Harden works and asks to see him. Harden not wanting to risk his job and reputation with his bosses and clients drags Izzy out. Izzy represents a past life Harden doesn’t want to revisit, that of “Dagger” a vocalist of a glam metal band called Rock Toxin. The band members wore makeup, lipstick and leather attire when performing and were wild and riotous in their day. Since the band unceremoniously dissolved, Izzy had a rough life and lives with his mother and the other members are losers too. Izzy is there to persuade Harden to be part of Rock Toxin’s reunion with a huge payday, that can’t happen without his involvement. Harden is adamant no reunion will happen and doesn’t desire to associate with former, still dysfunctional band members. His stance changes after his daughter gets admitted to college and Harden doesn’t have enough money for fees. That compels Harden to start rehearsals with Rock Toxin secretly, while juggling his bank loan officer job.
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