‘It’s showtime!’
I’ve never been a big fan of Tim Burton. I’ve always found his brand of zaniness to be a little forced and empty, particularly in his later work. Beetlejuice was not a big film for me during childhood like it was for others but I enjoyed revisiting it nevertheless…
When amiable couple Adam and Barbara (gamely played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) find themselves to be quite dead (and confined to their family home as ghosts), they are horrified to find a pretentious New York couple (Katherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Jones) have moved in and started changing everything. Eventually, after a few aborted attempts at scaring the interlopers away themselves, Adam and Barbara perhaps unwisely enlist the help of ‘bio-exorcist’ and lunatic Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton). Predictably, this has disastrous consequences. Elsewhere, Winona Ryder single-handedly invents the need for clothing shop Blue Banana with her turn as goth ice-queen Lydia Deetz.
The first thing that shocked me on this rewatch was how much this is not a movie for kids. I always just assumed it was but Beetlejuice is a lecherous, foul-mouthed demon who single-handedly justifies the film’s 15 rating. There is even an F-bomb, for chrissakes. Secondly, while I enjoyed Burton’s use of practical effects here and the cast do a great job in bringing the material to life, I would be hard-pushed to describe Beetlejuice as a comedy. It has moments that delight and it is always visually innovative but it’s never laugh-out-loud funny. This is comedy for teenagers. It also becomes even less funny when you read Jeffrey Jones’ Wikipedia page…
Beetlejuice is one of Burton’s less unbearable films, in fact, it’s actually quite charming in places, but it’s still difficult not to feel that it is pretty overrated. If you dig Burton and his films, this is probably one of your favourites. For everyone else, it’s just a solid if unspectacular supernatural comedy.
