I'm sure the story that David Ogden came up with in his head was pretty good, but a whole lot must have been lost when he tried to take that story out of his head and put it on the screen. Inside Out isn't smart or realistic enough to make it as a serious drama, but it's not trashy or exploitive enough to qualify as entertaining crap. This film is trapped in The Phantom Zone of Lameness.
The underlying theme of this movie is that life in upper-middle class suburbia isn't as perfect as it seems, which may have been a provocative concept back in 1985. The story is about a strange man with a secret who moves into the cul de sac and upends the lives of all of his neighbors, who then turn out to have deep dark secrets of their own. But not only is the storytelling in this film dumber and more ham handed that what you see on Desperate Housewives, it isn't even up to the standards of an episode of Knots Landing.
Norman (Steven Weber) is the anal retentive, conspiracy minded husband to Maria (Nia Peeples) and father to Obert (Tyler Posey). Maria is a thoroughly generic, long suffering wife character. Obert, which is a name only an idiot celebrity would give their child, is supposed to be a disturbed kid. But other than looking sullen and really not wanting to take a swimming lesson, he never does anything disturbing. Maria's best friend in the neighborhood is Tyne (Kate Walsh), a thoroughly generic best friend character, who happens to be divorced from Frank (Russell Wong). The movie never bothers to explain why Tyne and Frank are still living in the same neighborhood if they're divorced, but this movie never explains very much of its plot. There's not much to Frank's character, except he partners up with Norman to spy on their new strange neighbor. Oh, and Frank has a gambling problem with the story alludes to in painfully obvious ways. George (Joe Hart) and Shirley (Roberta E. Bassin) are an older fat couple. George has to deal with an abusive boss in a wheelchair and Shirley is a compliant mouse. Frankly, if they had cut these two characters out of the whole story it could only have improved things. The strange new neighbor is Dr. Peoples (Eriq La Salle). While he's supposed to be the mysterious outsider who threatens the supposed tranquility of Norman and the others, the most noteworthy thing about Dr. Peoples is his bizarre fashion sense. He shows up for a kid's birthday party in a tuxedo and with a cane. In another scene, he's even more inexplicable dressed like an urban cowboy. Later on, for the climax of the plot, he's wearing some Hugh Hefner-like pajamas. It's kind of hard to take him seriously as the heavy in the story when you can't help wonder why his momma dresses him so funny.
The gist of the story is that Norman and Frank suspect Dr. Peoples of doing terrible things, but instead of calling the cops like normal people, they investigate Peoples on their own. It's supposed to be about how Norman and Frank are the good guys but Dr. Peoples turns the tables on them and forces them into extreme and reckless behavior that destroys their lives while Dr. Peoples makes everyone think he's the good guy. Then there's supposed to be the big twist at the end where we find out Dr. Peoples' real agenda and the audience is meant to be blown away with Norman and the rest of the neighborhood not being the folks we were led to believe they were.
There are just so many silly, nonsensical and just plain stupid things that happen along the way, however, that you can't take anything seriously. But the movie also isn't over the top or sensationalistic enough to make you stop caring about it not making sense. We're repeatedly told that Obert is deeply screwed up, but he never does anything the least bit crazy or shocking. The violence in the film never amounts to more than a couple of fist fights. There's one nude scene that's so hard to make out I can't understand why it's in the movie. There aren't even any screaming fights between Norman and Maria or anyone.
Another huge problem is that Norman is the main character and he's not likable. The movie doesn't try and make you dislike him, but it does nothing to make you like or identify with him. Before you can care about what happens to a character, you have to care about the character. Steven Weber does okay with a role that has no depth written into it, but even he can't pull it off when Norman shaves his head in some sort of Taxi Driverish mental breakdown montage.
Inside Out is a melodrama, but writer/director David Ogden clearly deceived himself into thinking it was a drama. So he doesn't bother to put in any of the visceral thrills that make melodramas worthwhile, yet he obviously doesn't appreciate that this movie has none of the intelligence and genuine emotion that makes dramas worthwhile. That's The Phantom Zone of Lameness and I don't think even a nuclear explosion in space could set this movie free.
The underlying theme of this movie is that life in upper-middle class suburbia isn't as perfect as it seems, which may have been a provocative concept back in 1985. The story is about a strange man with a secret who moves into the cul de sac and upends the lives of all of his neighbors, who then turn out to have deep dark secrets of their own. But not only is the storytelling in this film dumber and more ham handed that what you see on Desperate Housewives, it isn't even up to the standards of an episode of Knots Landing.
Norman (Steven Weber) is the anal retentive, conspiracy minded husband to Maria (Nia Peeples) and father to Obert (Tyler Posey). Maria is a thoroughly generic, long suffering wife character. Obert, which is a name only an idiot celebrity would give their child, is supposed to be a disturbed kid. But other than looking sullen and really not wanting to take a swimming lesson, he never does anything disturbing. Maria's best friend in the neighborhood is Tyne (Kate Walsh), a thoroughly generic best friend character, who happens to be divorced from Frank (Russell Wong). The movie never bothers to explain why Tyne and Frank are still living in the same neighborhood if they're divorced, but this movie never explains very much of its plot. There's not much to Frank's character, except he partners up with Norman to spy on their new strange neighbor. Oh, and Frank has a gambling problem with the story alludes to in painfully obvious ways. George (Joe Hart) and Shirley (Roberta E. Bassin) are an older fat couple. George has to deal with an abusive boss in a wheelchair and Shirley is a compliant mouse. Frankly, if they had cut these two characters out of the whole story it could only have improved things. The strange new neighbor is Dr. Peoples (Eriq La Salle). While he's supposed to be the mysterious outsider who threatens the supposed tranquility of Norman and the others, the most noteworthy thing about Dr. Peoples is his bizarre fashion sense. He shows up for a kid's birthday party in a tuxedo and with a cane. In another scene, he's even more inexplicable dressed like an urban cowboy. Later on, for the climax of the plot, he's wearing some Hugh Hefner-like pajamas. It's kind of hard to take him seriously as the heavy in the story when you can't help wonder why his momma dresses him so funny.
The gist of the story is that Norman and Frank suspect Dr. Peoples of doing terrible things, but instead of calling the cops like normal people, they investigate Peoples on their own. It's supposed to be about how Norman and Frank are the good guys but Dr. Peoples turns the tables on them and forces them into extreme and reckless behavior that destroys their lives while Dr. Peoples makes everyone think he's the good guy. Then there's supposed to be the big twist at the end where we find out Dr. Peoples' real agenda and the audience is meant to be blown away with Norman and the rest of the neighborhood not being the folks we were led to believe they were.
There are just so many silly, nonsensical and just plain stupid things that happen along the way, however, that you can't take anything seriously. But the movie also isn't over the top or sensationalistic enough to make you stop caring about it not making sense. We're repeatedly told that Obert is deeply screwed up, but he never does anything the least bit crazy or shocking. The violence in the film never amounts to more than a couple of fist fights. There's one nude scene that's so hard to make out I can't understand why it's in the movie. There aren't even any screaming fights between Norman and Maria or anyone.
Another huge problem is that Norman is the main character and he's not likable. The movie doesn't try and make you dislike him, but it does nothing to make you like or identify with him. Before you can care about what happens to a character, you have to care about the character. Steven Weber does okay with a role that has no depth written into it, but even he can't pull it off when Norman shaves his head in some sort of Taxi Driverish mental breakdown montage.
Inside Out is a melodrama, but writer/director David Ogden clearly deceived himself into thinking it was a drama. So he doesn't bother to put in any of the visceral thrills that make melodramas worthwhile, yet he obviously doesn't appreciate that this movie has none of the intelligence and genuine emotion that makes dramas worthwhile. That's The Phantom Zone of Lameness and I don't think even a nuclear explosion in space could set this movie free.