About a 5-minute read

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I dreamed a dream of Halloween and hoped what I saw was not to be. In a never-ending fever of grotesque and macabre, my fleeting sanity the torment did rob. When I awoke, its presence I felt, though night’s shadows and darkness ran from the dawning sun’s melt. My dream was ended but not gone, left was I to venture about a world left wrong.

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My earliest memories of Nothing But Trouble remain lucid even though it feels like a movie that could not possibly exist nor should I have ever watched it. It’s a fever dream of the transition from 80s to 90s that doesn’t feel real. It will leave you asking questions. Did you really watch it? Did you really see those things? No, it’s not possible something that odd and with that cast actually exists. That’s what you tell yourself. But then, you find the DVD in your hand, and the absurd memories rush back. It’s not shock cinema that leaves you agog. There’s no belief-rattling twist that catches your breath. Nothing But Trouble is 90 minutes of shoving “how did this get made” and “what am I seeing” right into your eye holes.

I stumbled upon Nothing But Trouble one lazy summer morning in my childhood. Even with my youthful imagination in full bloom, this movie felt so weird and unbelievable that when it ended, I couldn’t trust that I’d just watched it. I pushed it aside in my mind, but it had grabbed hold in the recesses of my conscience and burrowed in for hibernation. Years later, I found the DVD at a second-hand store. “Oh wow, this movie?” I thought to myself as I unconsciously brought it to the register and handed over the $5 required to bring the film back into my life. I didn’t know why, but something poked at my brain to bring the disc home and allow it to re-enter my world. And so, Nothing But Trouble followed and went straight on the shelf, tucked snugly between The Notebook and Now and Then (Disclaimer: Not every movie on the shelf was a personal purchase. Plus, I would NEVER just happen to sit down on the couch and watch either of those movies if they happened to be playing…No, sir. NEVER).

Enter the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five. Nothing But Trouble (NBT) leaps from the shelf into the DVD player and unleashes its weirdness back into the world. Admittedly, I opened Pandora’s Box with this as part of my Halloween viewing and now must do the penance. I’m at a loss for how to describe what this movie is, but I’ll try craft a picture. Think of a film starring some of the greatest comedic figures of the 90s. Next, allow some of them to play multiple roles Eddie Murphy-style, where for the secondary and tertiary roles they’ll be heavily adorned in prosthetics and other Hollywood makeup magic to run the gamut from “bearing a likeness” to “completely unrecognizable”. Then, throw in stunning set pieces to create the backwoods hellscape of Valkenvania. Finally, top with Daniel Baldwin and Brian Doyle-Murray cameos, and voila, you have a movie that pushes the pulpy boundaries of late 80s and early 90s cinematic aberrations, though its not without positive qualities.

This cast has some of the heaviest comedic hitters in Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, and Chevy Chase. Then, Demi Moore, while not a comedic juggernaut, certainly adds Hollywood glamor. Written and directed by Dan Aykroyd (along with writing credits for his brother Peter Aykroyd), NBT feels like one of those movies that should get more note given its pedigree, but it’s just so…dang…weird. That is part of the reason, however, why I’ve included it in my Halloween fare. NBT is a terrifying cocktail of insane characters, hopeless entrapment, and life-and-death decisions. You wouldn’t think those pieces would exist under a comedic veneer, but when examining the dire situation in which Chevy Chase and Demi Moore find themselves, there’s a psychological torment that hits with the understanding their lives may have permanently changed from one wrong turn that leads to an avalanche of tenuous circumstances. Within these sequences of missteps, one wrong word or action could lead to their demise, and they’d be wiped from existence without anyone knowing their fate. The situation is similar to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its use of situational and surrounding horror. Attempting to run away is risky, and even if they do escape the immediate threat, there’s no friendly face to offer shelter or protection.

Nothing But Trouble, however, remains a comedy at its core. Despite everything being awful for the hapless characters, Chevy Chase stays true to delivering zingers at every opportunity, John Candy uses his minimal screen time to put a smile on your face, and Dan Aykroyd plays his deranged characters with great aplomb. It’s obvious the cast never takes the film too seriously, which is apparent with some half-hearted performances at times (I’m looking at you, Chevy), but even those moments feel appropriate for what this film is.

I can’t necessarily recommend Nothing But Trouble. It’s not a traditionally good movie, but it’s nothing it isn’t supposed to be. The cast is perfection for a bananas labor of love that’s happy hiding amongst the cobwebs in the cinematic rafters, waiting for the perfect moment to appear before once again disappearing into the shadows. You’ll watch this film and come away not understanding how the preceding 90 minutes was real life, but you won’t forget it. No matter how hard you try to cleanse your mental palette, Nothing But Trouble will haunt you, refusing to cede its plot of real estate in your mind.