The Blues Brothers




We're on a mission from God.

On a historical note, this movie once held the record for car crashes on screen. Featuring oodles of cameos, a soulful soundtrack and a unique sense of humor, this is based off of the Saturday Night Live skites.

Jake Blues (John Belushi) just got out of the clink and is reunited with his brother, Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd). They discover that the orphanage where they grew up is going to get sold unless they come up with $5,000. So, after a divine inspiration, they set out to reunite their old band to earn the dough.

Even if you've never seen this movie, chances are you can already identify the title characters by their garb: black hats, black suits and sunglasses. This movie has a far calling and an avid following. It succeeds on multiple levels, with genres including the buddy movie, musical, comedy, and an ultimate homage all served up with tons of car chases and crashes. It is an odd mix for sure. Despite that, it manages to pull them all off.

Slightly uneven, it does drag a tad at some points. Though only a little over two hours, it seems longer. A good deal of the humor, especially jokes involving the cameos, may also fly over some heads.

The humor is something of a completely different sort from the ordinary. Part of it is the running joke that while the Blues Brothers are on their holy crusade, they are invincible. While this movie shouldn't be regarded as just a comedy, there is enough to back that claim up. Some classic scenes include meeting the Penguin and singing at Bob's Country Bunker, just to name a few.

Belushi and Aykroyd are the Blues Brothers, end of story. The good thing about the script is it doesn't have them hogging the spotlight. Countless celebrities make appearances to fill a number of goofy characters. To get an idea of the variety, everyone from Twiggy to Steven Spielberg, Ray Charles to Frank Oz shows up.

Overall, The Blues Brothers is an entertaining movie that remains one of the few good SNL adaptations.



-The Gnome