The fascination 1980s Hollywood had with comedies about ordinary guys granted superpowers—which gave us groaners like SUPER FUZZ (1980), ZAPPED! (1982), THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE (1983) and SCHOOL SPIRIT (1985)—had one of its earliest iterations with MODERN PROBLEMS, a creepy and off-putting 1981 vehicle that’s most interesting for the fact that when stripped of its supernatural trappings the narrative, about a deeply unhappy man descending into a vortex of sex, drugs and miscellaneous bad behavior, mirrored the offscreen existence of its star Chevy Chase.
The co-writer and director of MODERN PROBLEMS was the late Ken Shapiro (1942-2017), an early associate of Chevy Chase who had previously directed him in THE GROOVE TUBE (1974). The production of MODERN PROBLEMS was indeed problematic, with Chase getting electrocuted on-set and Shapiro (who Chase now dubs “a prick”) abandoning Hollywood altogether after the finished film was severely recut to obtain a PG rating.
Chase plays Max Fielder, a severely disgruntled New York based air traffic controller (a job that, as demonstrated by 1985’s SUMMER RENTAL and 1999’s PUSHING TIN, is regarded by Hollywood as the ultimate stress inducer) who is apparently “a prince who thinks he’s a frog.” In fact, the man is a self-pitying asshole who’s attempting to get back together with his ex-wife Lorraine (Mary Kay Place) and his estranged girlfriend Darcy (Patti D’Arbanville). One night Max, driving home from a party, is sprayed with green slop from a nuclear waste truck, which causes him to emit an unearthly green glow and develop telekinetic powers.
Being the miserable sort he is, Max uses his powers solely to humiliate people (positive usage being beyond his, and the filmmakers’, conception). He causes Barry (Mitch Kreindel), an annoying fellow who’s been courting Darcy, to experience an epic nosebleed in a fancy restaurant, and a performer in a Barry sponsored ballet performance to have his crotch pop like a balloon. A bit later, upon rekindling his romance with Darcy, Max makes her to experience violent orgasms while he makes goofy faces.
Further humiliation occurs at the beach home of Max’s paraplegic friend Brian (Brian Doyle-Murray), who’s been “bopping” Lorraine. Max uses his powers to make Brian’s obnoxious writer pal Winslow (Dabney Coleman) float around the room and end up with his face in a plate of mashed potatoes. Brian’s voodoo practitioner maid Dorita (Nell Carter) tries to exorcise Max by spreading white powder around him, but he snorts it up and turns manic, winding up on the roof during an approaching thunderstorm and proclaiming (correctly) that “I’m a monster!” Somehow, though, it all ends happily.
There are some scattered laughs, but the film for the most part is extremely off-putting. Ken Shapiro gives it a highly contained, close-up happy (i.e. small screen) feel, accentuated by cinematographer Edmond L. Koons’s ugly subterranean lighting.
We also have the fact that the central character is an unlikeable sad sack with whom we’re expected to sympathize, and the supporting cast (Nell Carter aside) gives him little to work with (or, perhaps more accurately, play off). But again: the story’s real-life parallels lend a most unexpected resonance. Based on what we know about Chevy Chase, this may be the most revealing of all his films, which isn’t an especially positive thing.
Vital Statistics
MODERN PROBLEMS
Twentieth Century Fox
Director: Ken Shapiro
Producers: Alan Griesman, Michael Shamberg
Screenplay: Ken Shapiro, Tom Sherohman, Arthur Sellers
Cinematography: Edmond L. Koons
Editing: Michael Jablow
Cast: Chevy Chase, Patti D’Arbanville, Mary Kay Place, Brian Doyle-Murray, Nell Carter, Dabney Colman, Tom Sherohman