Quick Thoughts: The Whoopee Boys

I firmly believe everyone grew up with a movie that they watched repeatedly and as they grow older can go back to that movie time and time again, and enjoy it, even if out of date. For me I have several that fit that description, but the one most won't believe is a little 1986 film called 'The Whoopee Boys', which stars Michael O'Keefe who is best known for his role in Caddyshack, and Paul Rodriguez, one of the most quick-witted stand up comedians of the 80s and 90s.

The general plot is that Jake and Barney (played by O'Keefe and Rodriguez respectively) are two con-men who make their way down to Palm Beach looking for a big score. They meet an heiress named Olivia (Lucinda Jenney) who is looking to get married to inherent a fortune to save her school, and with Jake falling in love with her, but she's not quite willing to marry him because her uncle has to approve of her choice of husband. Jake and Barney head off to a charm-school to get the skills and traits they needed for Jake to pass himself off as the perfect gentleman to get the girl and save her school while dealing with the typical snobbish rich elitists. 

The Whoopee Boys is very much a 'Slobs versus Snobs' movie, but we don't get much time spent with the antagonists, other than Strobe (Stephen Davies) who gets a couple of scenes to really push forth he's the villain, but outside of the revaluation that Jake and Barney are not who they seem to be to set up the films climax, the result of Olivia and Jake ending up together is never in doubt. This is also in part due to the charm school aspect of the movie where a number of secondary characters are introduced and used as allies to help our heroes.

That said, there is a sense of improvisation with this movie, as Paul Rodriguez has a series of one-liners that exists from the start of the movie all the way through the credits song at the end, and it seems as if a number of his lines were quite off the cuff because it always seems like when he speaks anyone else on camera with him appears to be seconds of way from cracking up. In does get to a point where it sounds as if several of his lines were recorded in post-filming because there are times he doesn't quite sound the same and as if something was dubbed in.

One final note, the sound track of this movie screams early to mid 80s, particularly with music heard during the three montages, which are anchored by Stages by ZZ Top (during the opening), That Was Then This Is Now by The Monkees (during Jake and Barney helping around Olivia School) and I Still Believe by The Call (during the trip to the Phelps Institute). It's really a nice selection of tunes to fit the narrative of the film. The question of if a film needed more than two montages is always a question, but since one was an intro, another was used for character development and the third was the transition to next act, I think the use of them in The Whoopee Boys actually works nicely.