allmytee_magoo I was around six or seven years old when this movie came out and my parents allowed me to watch it. Through the years, whenever it would come on TV, I would sit and watch it religiously. Then, it completely disappeared from the lexicon of television and movies. Now, you can only buy a region 1 DVD copy on eBay or Amazon for ridiculous prices, or you can buy it on Amazon streaming for $10. It has probably been well on a decade or more since I last watched this film. I recently bought a Drop Dead Fred T-shirt and finally decided to buy the movie on Amazon streaming. I watched it today and realized that the message of the movie has been the message I have lived my life by ever since first watching the film 25 years ago. Love it, or hate it, this film has a wonderful message, and while the antics of Elizabeth and Fred may seem extremely juvenile to most people, it is those very people whom the film is trying to fight against. Lizzie grew up with a mother who didn't love her. Her mother even admits to her at the very end of the film that she shouldn't have had a child to save a marriage that ended up being unable to save. Having a strict mother who expected nothing but perfection from a very young child only goes to prove how much this child needed a creative and imaginative outlet, and found that in the form of her imaginary friend, Drop Dead Fred. As an adult, Lizzy is struggling to cope with her husband's cheating and her overbearing mother wanting to take control of her life again. Because her mother stifled her imagination by getting rid of Drop Dead Fred when Lizzie was a child, she now needs his ridiculousness and his guidance to find herself again and to find her confidence to stand up to people in her life and tell them that she needs to be in control of herself. She then becomes lighthearted again and learns to fall in love for her and no one else. At the age of almost 32, I am a high school English teacher with a masters degree, and the message that I have always tried to live my life by and maintain for myself as I get older is to never lose my childlike innocence. No matter how old I get, no matter how serious life can be, and no matter how many outside forces try to bring me down, it is important for me to never forget my sense of wonder that I had as a child, and that is the very message that this film tries to portray. This is one of my very favorite childhood movies and will forever remain such an important film in my development. I can't wait to show it to my students in film studies next week to leave them with a wonderful, uplifting message to start their summer vacation with!!!! I only wish more people could appreciate this film and understand the many great metaphors hidden throughout!

popcorninhell Mental health in this country is a very serious issue. Approximately 14.8 million American adults suffer from some form of depression. 1.1 percent of the country contends with chronic and severe schizophrenia and nearly everyone in the United States knows or has known someone with a debilitating psychological disorder that are many times beyond the persons control. Much of this can be managed of course but one thing that we can all do more of is making sure these suffering (and a lot of the time marginalized) people are given a means to express themselves. Thank goodness the makers of Drop Dead Fred were able to clamber out of their mental illness to create such a film. Oh wait...none of the makers of this film are known to have schizophrenia? Then what the hell movie?This ugly, vulgar and interminably sophomoric film follows the life of Lizzie Cronin (Cates), a woman whose life has taken a turn for the worst. She's lost her job, her philandering husband (Matheson), her car, her money and her self-respect and is forced to board with her mother (Mason). While back in her oppressive childhood home she comes across an old jack-in-the-box that imprisons Drop Dead Fred (Mayall); a doggedly irritating imaginary friend who used to get her into trouble when she was six. With Fred now free to roam about the cabin, the mousy Lizzie's already messed up life turns topsy-turvy with psychotic meltdowns, loud noises and poop jokes.Holy cow this movie is abominable! The thundering, cloying obnoxiousness of this film panders so heavily to very young children that anyone with the ability to form a clear thought will immediately be turned off. Logic is completely thrown out the window in the service of crude, painfully unfunny jokes that add nothing to the plot but does make any reasonable person want to throttle the characters and leave them for dead in a shallow grave. Because of Lizzie's "condition," the actress Phoebe Cates is left with nothing to do but stare blankly or gesticulate dismay. Her character arc would approach inspiration for the mentally ill if not for it's stunning, flat-out insulting improbability. Children too innocent and naive to consider Drop Dead Fred's central theme will only pickup the multitude of bad habits that Fred proudly exhibits. I'm not the type to say children shouldn't watch Peter Pan (1953) lest they try to fly but in the case of Drop Dead Fred I say avoid introducing kids to this movie unless you want them looking under your skirt and yelling "cobwebs!"Apparently Lizzie's psychosis is contagious as she's not the only main character who seems to be unwell. After her imaginary friend essentially destroys the quaint and quiet existence of her mother and her best friend Janie (Fisher) they react, not as if someone has completely torn their life asunder but as if their being inconvenienced by a bus running late. Lizzie's possible love interest acts even more unreal, swooning with delight as she (I mean Fred) throws food at an expensive restaurant while talking to herself. It's clear to anyone who isn't five that she needs help. Yet everywhere she's surrounded by enablers and if this movie were thirty minutes longer, there's no telling how it'd end.The movie's Achilles heal, the one thing that makes this disaster almost too terrible to behold is Rik Mayall's insufferable performance as Fred. His antics, likely inspired by Jerry Lewis comes across as crude and mean-spirited. His jokes are the very definition of trying too hard. His physical appearance approximates the results of painting Easter eggs on acid mixed with a pedophilic Willy Wonka. I downright hated this character. I'm not sure what boggy bridge they searched under to inspire this character but this walking, talking personification if the id is the reason some countries still hang people.This film is an insult to the tots it targets. It's an insult to the adults foolish enough to see it with their kids. It's an insult to the film's admirers who are held hostage by its nostalgia and most egregiously; it's an insult to those truly suffering from schizophrenia, depression and all other disorders Lizzie likely has but I'm not qualified to diagnose. If you are one of the few but surprisingly vocal people who like this film, I think your unstable to say the least. I wouldn't tell you though for fear of my life so if you must debate the value of this film please send your comments to:Martin Shikreli XXXXXXXXX Ave. XXXXXXX, XXXXXXX XXXXXwww.theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com

Paul Magne Haakonsen The reason for why I initially purchased this 1991 comedy at the local secondhand DVD store was because of Rik Mayall, the late, great British comedy genius.I haven't seen "Drop Dead Fred" before now in 2016, 25 years after it was initially released. Shame on me, I know. And it was an error on my behalf, because this is a very funny movie and an enjoyable movie as well. And Rik Mayall really do put on a very good performance as the imaginary friend Drop Dead Fred. I was laughing a good amount throughout the course of the movie, especially because of the hilarious situations that Elizabeth (played by Phoebe Cates) ended up in because of her imaginary friend.Rik Mayall is quite well-cast for the menacing make-believe friend, and he seemed to be given free hands to do what he wanted with the character. I was more than genuinely entertained by his comedy in this 1991 movie, his brush with Hollywood, although he was always more at home in the British comedy.Aside from an all-over-the-screen Rik Mayall, then Phoebe Cates also did perform nicely in "Drop Dead Fred" and borough her usual charms. It was a nice treat to have the Princess herself in the movie for a supportive role, that being Carrie Fisher, of course."Drop Dead Fred" is a fast paced comedy with lots of laughs.

bcrumpacker I did enjoy the crude humor throughout, but see two big problems with this movie. First, the two leads misfire. Of course Phoebe Cates must be frumpy and repressed so she can blossom later, but this means hiding Phoebe's best qualities as an actress for most of the movie. That is a big mistake. Why do producers insist on turning pretty girls into unattractive miserable ones? As for Rik Mayall, the Brits can keep him, and they have. So the two leads are respectively neutered and irritating, right up until Phoebe's booger attack, which is the climax,and best scene in the entire movie. She should have attacked her mom too, just for kicks. Unfortunately we see very little blossoming thereafter, and the movie ends with a thud.Second, the underlying message of this movie is that destructive behavior leads us to emotional growth and a happier life. In other words, give in to your irrational urges to endanger others and damage their property. It will make you a better person! For example, was it REALLY necessary for Phoebe to wreck her friend's houseboat in order for her to learn how to talk back to her overbearing mother and ditch her sleazy fiancé? Evidently yes. But destructive behavior does NOT always, or usually, lead to enlightenment. Frankly only people who can't understand normal thinking would write or believe this. PS If there is a remake, don't forget the boogers.