Going Overboard
Released: 1989
My Rating: ½ out of 5
Tagline: In the world of comedy, it’s sink or swim.
Synopsis: A struggling young comedian takes a menial job on a cruise ship where he hopes for his big chance to make it in the world of cruise ship comedy.
Whoa! One movie in, and I'm already pulling out a half-star rating. Am I so overly critical?!
No, this movie is just flat up terrible. It's hard to even call it a movie at all. It is incredibly amateur, but not in a charming way. This movie feels like there was no passion put into it.
Basically what the movie is about is that Adam Sandler wants to be the cruise comedian, but womp womp, he's just a janitor. So the whole time it's just complaining about wanting to be the cruise comedian, but not doing anything about it. It literally just feels like they had the opportunity to make a movie on a boat and were like "Oh shit, we need to write a script. Eh that's not that important. Let's just cut to more b-roll of models looking sexy."
The movie is aimless. I just remember sitting around for the whole time just waiting for something to happen. And it never does! It's boring as all heck! Maybe the most boring movie I've seen in my life.
Do I have anything positive to say about the movie? Uhhhhhhh. I'm racking my brain, and I can not think of a single thing.
Despite everything though, I do think that somethings about this movie still stick out to me to this day. It's hard to forget a movie this miserable, and there is something funny about it being Adam Sandler's first movie. It's not like he's uniquely bad or anything, he just has nothing to do with what he's given.
I do think there is something a little comical about the plot in retrospect. Not that it is interesting or anything, but the fact that it is about Adam Sandler being an aspiring comedian, and the issue is that he isn't funny to anyone, doesn't that kinda make you think a little bit about his career as a whole? Seems like foreshadowing to me!
Billy Bob Thornton in “Going Overboard”
Something else somewhat interesting is that other than Adam Sandler, there is no one of note in this movie. Except for an appearance from Billy Bob Thornton of all people. He didn't get into acting until he was in his 30s, so it's interesting to see him here out of nowhere in one of his first film roles. And he plays someone so minor that I don't even remember what his character does. Maybe he makes fun of Adam Sandler when he bombs doing stand-up, I don't know.
But the real thing that sticks out to me so much about Going Overboard is the laugh of the antagonist, Dickie Diamond. He is the comedian Adam Sandler is jealous of, and oh my god is there just something about his laugh that gets stuck in your head. In all honestly it's pretty perfect for the character, and I find myself referencing it every time I laugh after being a lil' stinker. Play a minor prank? Time to laugh like Dickie Diamond.
Going Overboard almost feels like it should be lost media. I bet that unless I told you about it, you likely wouldn't even know that this movie exists. And maybe it should stay that way. I'm not the kind of person to shame a media project, but this clearly doesn't have any real thought put into it. I would only suggest you watch this movie if you want to suffer for an hour and a half.
This was my level setter for my whole year, can you believe that? Luckily, for the most part, the only way to go from here is up!
At the end of each blog post, I’'ll add some of my favorite Letterboxd reviews of the movie the post is about. My review will aways be top left from thecountygamer!
