Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

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

Jackson Booth-Millard I had seen the poster and DVD for this film many many times, so I always knew who the leading British actor was, who sadly passed away a year before I watched it, I had many times heard that this film had either mixed or negative opinions, probably the latter, I was still going to give it a go. Basically Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Cronin (Phoebe Cates) is having the worst time of her life, she has her purse and car stolen, she is fired from her job, and she finds out that her husband Charles (Tim Matheson) has cheated on her, but she cannot stop loving him, despite support from her friend Janie (Carrie Fisher) she is unhappy. In misery, Lizzie remembers her happy times in childhood as a young girl (Ashley Peldon), specifically playing with and messing about with her imaginary friend, Drop Dead Fred (Rik Mayall), and all of the sudden, Fred reappears. Fred has a sole purpose, to cheer Lizzie up, but this is not going to plan, especially with Lizzie's quite cold mother Polly (Marsha Mason) around, who wants to turn her daughter into a younger double of herself. Lizzie works to get Charles back, and even though she is overjoyed to see Fred again and remember the fun times they had when she was a child, he only seems to cause trouble for her. After a number of unforgivable action, which Lizzie blames Fred for (just like in the past), her mother takes her to "get help" and get rid of Fred forever, Lizzie is given medication to take, but she realises as she is about to take the final pill that Charles has not changed, Fred is the only person she can trust. She follows Fred to a dream world and gets the chance to conquer her greatest fears: her mother, Charles's infidelity and the little girl inside her dealing with loneliness, unfortunately the only way she can truly rid herself of these fears is to lose Fred for good and realise she does not need him anymore. In the end Lizzie kisses Fred goodbye, waking from this dream she leaves Charles, she initially argues with Polly, who she blamed for her father leaving, but the mother and daughter reconcile, and meeting up with Mickey Bunce (Ron Eldard) they seem to express interest in being more than friends, she notices his daughter Natalie (Kelly Benson) playing and causing trouble, blaming Fred, even though she can no longer see him Lizzier realises Fred is now Natalie's imaginary friend, she smiles. Also starring Bridget Fonda as Annabella, Keith Charles as Murray and Daniel Gerroll as Nigel Cronin. Mayall with his big red hair and bright green clothes does bring the manic high energy you'd expect from him, and Cates is nice as the girl who is the only person who can see him, it might have been a good idea, but it goes from amusing to irritating a fair amount, and is predictable and almost completely unfunny, stick to James Stewart classic Harvey if you want a film about an invisible friend, this is a mess of a fantasy comedy. Adequate!

lowennadude After recently becoming a Rik Mayall fan, I took a break from watching zombie flicks all day to check out this hilarious and heart warming film where Mayall acts as Drop Dead Fred, an energetic and spontaneous child-hood imaginary friend to a 26 year old girl, Elizabeth. Her life has encountered numerous discomforting events and thus she needs some spirit brought back into her. This PG film is sprinkled with unforgettable funny quotes, unique characters, life- questioning provokes (such as about shared reality vs individual reality), mischievous scenes and beautiful friendship scenes. Heck, I sobbed at one point… Therefore, I find Drop Dead Fred a lovely reminder of childhood adventures. Maybe you will as well.Also, just a relevant though~ I think Fred looks like a cross between Vyvyan and Rick from The Young Ones, since he's played by Rick's actor, has orange hair in this film and has an over-the- top personality like the both of them. What a fitting mix!

HoratioFresh Classic late 80's/early 90's comedy. Maybe it's all the horror I've been watching but i saw this as your basic child talking to or possessed by a demon flick in which all the gruesome occult imagery was replaced with campy British physical humor. Lizzie has an awful day, her imaginary friend Drop Dead Fred reappears and proceeds to create chaos in her life. Hi jinks continue, then some really horrible in retrospect but probably cool when they happened special effects go down. Of course everyone ends up happy by the end of it. If nothing else there's a scene featuring Carrie Fisher smoking a cigarette while power- walking, that's a good enough reason to watch anything.