Howard the Duck

Movies 365: Day 44 – Howard the Duck

Proclaimed one of the worst films of all time, and a box office bomb to boot, Howard the Duck is a film that has eluded me for years. Surprisingly though his love for money if well know and lampooned George Lucas, who produced the film, kept Howard off DVD for years and VHS copies were hard to find. Well, I finally caught up with Howard the Duck, and while it’s certainly not one of the worst films I’ve seen, it definitely isn’t one of the best.

When Howard the Duck (Voiced by Chip Zien) is transported from his planet where anthropomorphic ducks rule, he befriends
Beverly (Lea Thompson), a singer in a terrible 80s new wave band The Cherry Bombs, who decides to help the duck find a way back to his planet after he fights off a couple of goons trying to rape her. Yeah. Seriously, that’s how this movies begins. Along the way, we meet Phil (Tim Robbins), an amiable intern at the natural history musem, and Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey Jones), a top notch scientist at a nearby research facility, who also decide to aid in helping the alien duck. That is, until Dr, Jenning is taken over by another alien form, one of the Dark Overlords. Yep, this movie really exists.

It would be simple to write off Howard the Duck as a dumb movie, which it is, but it’s also kind of fun, and very goofy. I’m sure if I had seen this twenty years ago, I would’ve loved it, and it would’ve been a movie I looked back on now with nostalgia. That said, I’m sad that I watched it alone, as this is definitely one of those movies that is best viewed with friends and beer. It’s utterly ridiculous, but the cast goes for it, and in the case of Tim Robbins, man, that dude really fucking goes for it. All in all, Howard the Duck certainly is a bad movie, but definitely one where it’s so bad, it’s good, I personally can’t wait to watch it again…only this time with friends, beer and snide comments.

Last updated: 2010-03-05 02:30:06 by user05