The Wrong Guys (1988) User Reviews (21)

It is what it is...

[nitannyguys · 5/10 · 1 February 2006]

No, "The Wrong Guys" isn't the funniest movie, and it may not be the most well made of films, but it is a fun movie to watch. It's stupid, good, clean fun made by a bunch of comics who clearly just wanted to do a movie together.

Given the state of movies today, this one doesn't seem all that bad by comparison. Just how many sequels to "Scary Movie" can there be anyway? And "White Chicks"??? Give me a break. Give me Richard Belzer tumbling down a mountain-side and landing on a 30 year old pack of "Fizzies" any day of the week.

The Gruntski Bros. are hilarious, and John Goodman is so over-the-top BAD that it's good. The scenes when these guys were kids are freaking outstanding: Belz sneaking up on Louie's older sister is classic.

Does it get better than "The Wrong Guys"? Sure it does. But it gets a helluva lot worse too.

Decent comedy.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 29 January 2012]

"The Wrong Guys" may never be as funny as one might wish it to be, but truthfully it does get by on the likability of the characters and does generate enough laughs to make it pleasant viewing. It's written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, the guys who'd written the cult favourite low budget sci-fi item "Trancers", with Bilson also serving as director. A quintet of stand-up comedians play the main characters, Cub Scouts as children who get together as grown men for an outing. However, they will face opposition not only from their long ago bullying nemeses the Grunski brothers, but an escaped criminal psychopath (John Goodman) who mistakenly thinks them to be FBI agents. All of the main characters fit into comfortable roles tailored to their own personalities: top-billed Louie Anderson is the upbeat guy with the can-do attitude who marshals the others when it needs to be done, Tim Thomerson, a.k.a. "Jack Deth" of "Trancers" is still the surfer dude, Richard "Belz" Belzer is the sleazy womanizer, Richard Lewis the insufferable neurotic, and Franklyn Ajaye the touchy-feely radio therapist. With such a cast on hand, it's quite possible some of their best lines were improvised. Lewis's misadventures with a cot provide a highlight, while the Grunskis do battle with a nefarious squirrel and Tim and Belz attempt to hook up with some of the ladies at a nearby retreat. The top notch cast also includes Brion James and Biff Manard as the Grunskis, Ernie Hudson and Timothy Van Patten as Goodman's reluctant companions, Art La Fleur as pancake restaurant boss Woody Winslow (it's therefore noteworthy that this movie reunites him, Manard, and Thomerson as they were ALL in "Trancers"), Rita Rudner as Pam, Carole Ita White as one of the Grunski wives, Josh Saviano and Jonathan Brandis as the young Belz and Tim, Lenny Clarke as the cab driver, and Kathleen Freeman and Alice Ghostley in cameo appearances at the end. Maybe the humour is at times a little childish and silly, but nobody going into this should really expect anything more. It never really gets too unpleasant, and the cast all do a nice job; James and Manard are a hoot as the Grunskis. At least the movie doesn't go on any longer than it needs to. Six out of 10.

Great 80's Comedy!

[gwnightscream · 6/10 · 14 March 2012]

Louie Anderson, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer, Tim Thomerson, Franklin Ajaye and John Goodman star in this 1988 comedy. A group of pals have a cub scout reunion and become hunted by a criminal thinking they're FBI. Louie can't stop thinking about his childhood and decides to reunite with his friends, Richard, Belz, Tim and Franklin. He talks them into having a cub scout reunion at Mount Whitehead. Soon, they're mistaken for FBI agents when a criminal, Duke (Goodman) begins hunting them. They try to explain they're not who he thinks and use their cub scout survival skills against him before he kills them. I grew up watching this film and always liked it. It's a great 80's comedy with a good cast I recommend.

Better than you might think...

[Mr_Mirage · 3 August 2003]

Hindered by a lack of budget, in that what is really needed is a better hand at editing and cinematography, what remains is a silly, heartfelt romp.

Look at the cast: John Goodman, Ernie Hudson, Louie Anderson, Richard Belzer and Richard Lewis. Each of the stand ups are given a chance to show off, most notably Lewis's dealing with a demon wood cot.

Far from a perfect film, it has moments that anyone that camps for recreation with find almost unbearably funny, simply because it is true. Watching Lewis fight the cot, while another man is fighting one of those wretched tin tent stakes, trying to put up a Voyager style tent better suited for a MASH unit than an overnight camp, was so close to several of my own Cub Scout, and Boy Scout memories, that I was actually, indeed, laughing out loud.

Here is a film that should be remade, with the original cast and script.

A guilty pleasure

[The Gryphon · 3/10 · 29 January 2005]

I saw this movie when it first came to the theaters in 1988 and though I knew it wasn't of award winning caliber...I kinda liked it. It tells the tale of 5 former cub scouts reuniting to take on the one task they never got to finish as kids - which is to climb Mt. Whitehead. Of course now the cub scouts are all grown up and have developed their personalities in a variety of ways, but none too differently than they were as children. Richard Lewis is still neurotic, Richard Belzer is still a playboy, Franklyn Ajaye is still sort of the Dear Abby of the group, and Tim Thomerson is still the surfer dude of the group. Of course the top billed star is Louie Anderson, a "true believer" in everything Cub Scout related. He still lives in the same house with his mother, still goes over the Cub Scout manual daily, is brave, reverent and clean, and is the one who reunites the others for one more grand adventure in Scouting. Compounding their task, however, is the Grunski brothers, two bullies drummed out of the Cub Scouts by the above mentioned. By coincidence they run into their old den and decide to harass them a bit, albeit harmlessly. Not so harmlessly is three escaped convicts, who think Pack 7 is from the FBI and are intent on wiping them out. All in all, the movie still has bits of charm. Observe Richard Lewis trying to get comfortable on a folding cot, for example, and you have a really funny bit going for you. Upon further review, the entire film needed more of that type of observational humor. It doesn't hold up well after all these years but still remains a guilty pleasure.

The worst comedy I have ever seen-but original!

[patricia-waugh-1 · 1/10 · 5 December 2005]

This is absolutely the worst comedy I have ever seen. It's hard to explain though, because (unless you've seen this) I bet you've never seen a comedy that was not good or bad; it's just there (That's the original part-not good or bad, just there)!

Let me say that I have seen every comedian appearing in a main role, and like them all. That's what makes this such a mystery. The supporting leads are actually acting (although the dialog is bad). The only character that is fairly good is the one played by John Goodman. He does a pretty good job with what little dialog he has, and actually has one funny line (I won't spoil the only funny line in the movie, in case you decide to watch anyway. It involves a pancake.) The big mysteries are the main leads. I won't call them characters, because no characters have been developed. This script is so juvenile that they don't even bother to give the leads fictional names. They all just use their own. They don't even seem to be trying to act. It's as though they are all reading out loud to each other from scripts that the local junior high sent to them. I actually wrote a paper like this for my English class when I was thirteen-it wasn't funny either.

Bottom line, just don't bother to rent this. It isn't funny. It doesn't even have the kind of bad dialog you can groan to. I just sat there and stared through the whole thing. It was so boring I couldn't even work up any irritation at how bad it was. I can't imagine how this is even getting a rating of 4 here.

Zzzzz

[eatingrich · 2/10 · 11 May 2004]

This film is not one of those films so bad you get annoyed and mad because it seems to be so up its own arse and yet it completely not funny. It's just that there is nothing of interest in this film. There are no real jokes that make you amused, you just watch for 80 minutes, then turn it off. I bought this on very budget DVD and I'm glad because it's not worth much. This isn't even one of those films that's so bad you can watch it with friends when getting drunk/high and have a good giggle. I didn't hate it like I hate some films, but it is rather boring, and not worth investing any time in.

The only people who voted 10 on the votes for this film must have been connected to it somehow because I cannot imagine anyone actually liking this film other than small children passing time

These guys were in the wrong place at the wrong time turning a simple camping comedy into to much.

[Aaron1375 · 6/10 · 19 June 2012]

This film starts out as your basic camping comedy. Like all camping comedies it decides to ditch the simple camping going wrong and go somewhere completely different. Sort of like how the first two Meatball films turned to having a competition with the rival camp or how Ernest Goes To Camp turned to a save the camp with the delinquent kids plot. So we have the save and the rivalry. This one does do something different veering it away from crazy camping hijinks and it is a bit of a darker tone as it becomes a homicidal maniac goes after our guys cause he thinks they are FBI or something.

The story has a group of old friends from a scout troop having a reunion. This team failed their last mission, having gotten severely lost the last time they got together. Their group is made up of mainly comedians from Louis Anderson to Richard Belzar. They also have B movie mainstay Tim Thomerson. John Goodman plays the maniac who along with two other fugitives from the law goes after the troop. His character is at times to dark for the film, then at times becomes goofy as he shoots down a pancake sign. He just does not seem to know where to go and he goes everywhere.

The film itself is a somewhat funny comedy. It starts out as them having a few misadventures then turns to them trying to escape the madman. While this turn is a bit to dark at times, it adds something original to a formulaic film. It also has two guys who were kicked out of the troop still holding a grudge and these two guys have some of the funnier moments in the film. So while not an excellent comedy of the past, it does have its moments and is a bit more than your standard camping comedy.

Avoid this like the plague.

[Bri22 · 2/10 · 15 December 2000]

Bad, bad, bad. How do movies like this get made? Badly written, poorly acted; I could go on, but why bother? As an aside, note that the characters' first names are the same as the actors playing them : this is a dead giveaway that no one on the set is even interested enough in their role to bother learning someone else's characters names!

Atrocious

[movieman_kev · 1/10 · 18 May 2007]

Five guys who were in the cub scouts together reunite years later to go camping. Were they run into their childhood nemeses as well as escaped convicts in this supreme unfunny supposed comedy. Most of the cast are content to simply phone it in, and don't really seem to care about the film in the least. The writers were so lazy that the names of the characters are, for the most part, the name of the actors that respectively play them. Richard Lewis's shtick gets really old REALLY quick. Even the late great character actor, Brion James can't save this stinker. (Even though he's one of the few actors in the film that doesn't totally embarrass himself) I hardly cracked a smile, much less had anything that would reasonably be even misconstrued as a laugh. Awful.

My Grade:F

great B movie

[ottoskorzeny-53649 · 8/10 · 17 January 2019]

Big fan of 80's movies and B movies. Underrated allstar cast. its clean, fun comedy suitable for the whole family. Especially entertaining was scene of cast as children. take a watch, pretty good.

Good old days

[fishoffyoutrout · 5/10 · 20 March 2022]

It was a good film brings back memories. Laugh and more laughs. He the only guy left alone gets everyone togther Richard the guy who talks to himself. Just an old good movie.

Pretty funny!!

[chaplins_charlie · 25 January 2003]

I saw this movie and thought it was pretty darn funny. The plot is original and the acting is true. Richard Belzer, Richard Louis and John Goodman were great. And Louie Anderson did a great job as the cute-as-a-button momma's boy!! 3 stars!!

Ah, the comedy dream team of the 80s. Joy.

[graves-scott · 1/10 · 1 September 2023]

These guys were always the second or maybe the third string of comedy team ups for movies in that Era. They were always outdone by Akroyd and friends, the only funny Era of Saturday Night Live. These loosers wound up with the sloppy seconds doing low budget crap.

This movie is about average for these guys. Not really funny but always on the edge of funny. Viewers hang on waiting for the joke to finally land.

The laziest part of this bad batch of writing is the naming of the main charachters, just look at the imagination behind their charachter names and you will see what I mean.

Don't waste your time on this one. I had to watch it because my wife put it on.

I really liked this movie!

[mmm64 · 10/10 · 30 October 2005]

I recorded this movie off the TV years ago and it's still one of our favorites. Although I had labeled it Den 7 Reunion, I finally found out it is called The Wrong Guys. I think it's great, fun, entertainment, and John Goodman was great in this movie. This movie was made when movies were still good clean fun. Put yourself in the movie, imagine your old gang getting together after 30 years, going to the places you went to when you were 10 years old. Finding things you had lost back then. Having strange things pop up while being out in the boonies where you can't get any help and having to figure it out for yourselves while trying to run from a crazy mad man trying to kill you! Finding your engine in the tree and finding your old enemies after you at the same time! My kids really love this movie and I sure wish they would make more like it!

entertaining.

[ottoskorzeny-53649 · 8/10 · 3 January 2018]

Have been less amused with movies with double the budget. didnt have highest of expectations but laughed out loud several times. cast full of funny guys, worth a watch.

My brother and I were in boy & cadets prospectively. Funniest film on point ever!!

[cnrfbones · 10/10 · 14 April 2019]

Even as adults, our whole family of 4 laughed thru tears at this film. How things just happened to lined up so perfectly and Richard Lewis had THE Perfect lines, and funny---all of these comics were in perfect place at perfect time. So funny we couldn't think but cackle and cry. Loved it!!!!!

favorable

[sicilian_gecco · 1 May 2001]

I definitely recommend it! My husband & I both like it a lot. We've mentioned it to friends and most have never heard of it; those who knew it remembered it for its cast. The characters are thoroughly lovable, funny, and are hilariously portrayed by an exceptional cast. The plot itself lends a lot of opportunity for comedy & chaos and, I think, the writers developed it well. We laughed a lot and we always look for it in video stores, although it's very hard to find. We'll just have to buy a copy!

Great funny film!

[geishertmd · 10/10 · 7 January 2021]

I watched this with my mother growing up one Saturday day afternoon. It's a nice great family funny film. I grew liking stand up comedy so having Lou and Richard in it was great. Big fans of both of them!

This movie is a classic

[TickleYu · 9/10 · 22 May 2021]

I never grow tired of watching Richard Lewis and his neurosis. The movie is silly but thats the charm of it. We have enough vampire and zombie movies, It's great to watch a classic movie that just makes you laugh.