Tom Hanks is these days best known for “Oscar”-grabbing roles in serious dramas, but at the early part of his career, when he used to be rising Hollywood star, his speciality was comedies. Some of those films might be seen as the antithesis of everything that made his current reputation, and that includes Bachelor Party, 1984 sex comedy directed by Neal Israel.
In the film Hanks plays Richard “Rick” Gassko, Catholic school bus driver who is about to get married to his girlfriend Debbie Thompson (played by Tawny Kitaen). Rick’s lack of finesse and social standing made him unpopular with Debbie’s conservative well-to-do parents, especially father Ed (played by George Grizzard) who doesn’t hide his preference for Debbie’s ex boyfriend Cole (played by Robert Prescott) as his future son-in-law. Cole is determined to win back Debbie and prevent the wedding at all cost and the opportunity comes in the form of wild bachelor party thrown by Rick’s friends that involves porn film, alcohol, drugs and prostitutes. While party goes on, Debbie and her friends at bridal shower decide to start night adventure of their own.
Comparisons between this film and The Hangover are inevitable, not only because both films deal with similar subject, but also because they were allegedly inspired by real events witnessed by their creators. The older film is much cruder, with much simpler plot which serves only as an excuse for series of gags, many of which aren’t particularly funny or go too long because of Neal Israel’s problems with pace. The latter is especially evident in the scene near the end during which Rick and Cole fight in 3D cinema theatre. Some of the gags, on the other hand, rely less on humour and more on the outrageousness, often dancing at the age of bad taste (like in the scene involving drugs and domestic animals) and featuring content that some of more sensitive souls today would renounce as homophobic and/or transphobic. Comparisons with Animal House are again at the expense of this film, which lacks historical or socioeconomic context of the humour, except, perhaps in the scene featuring horny Japanese businessmen trying to do to Debbie’s friends what they did to American industry in 1980s. Hanks is, however, more than solid in his role and same can be said for the rest of the cast that competently deals with cliches and stereotypes of their roles. Tawny Kitaen is decent although she lacks chemistry with Hanks and is actually less memorable than former Penthouse Pet Monique Gabrielle which appears naked in the role of Rick’s temptation. Although quite popular and successful at box office at its time, Bachelor Party didn’t have proper sequel and that is probably good thing both for the audience and Tom Hanks.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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