The Blues Brothers

Until today, I hadn’t ever seen The Blues Brothers. To all you people who nagged me to see it and told me I was missing out, this is for you.

Two brothers go about reforming their old band in order to raise money for an orphanage. Capers ensue.

This film wound up being the most expensive comedy ever made, and it shows. The script is long and lacks focus, the action is also long and feels like someone in the budget department took a few weeks off while the producers purchased all the cars they could find. It reminds me of something I might have tried to write when I was 12. More cars! More action! More explosions! More jokes! Less women! Now let’s play music I like!

Unlike my childhood screenplays, The Blues Brothers is incredibly entertaining. It does its own thing, and does it well. The jokes are funny, as is a lot of the action (the end sequence was the most expensive laugh I’ve seen on film), and the film as a whole has an endearing quality to it.

We get taken on a mad ride with two brothers looking for redemption, and going the wrong way about it. Add a sprinkling of cameos and muscial numbers and you’ve got a film like no other on your hands.

I’m perhaps not as smitten with The Blues Brothers as some, I think my in built loathing of spontaneous musical numbers is stopping it from becoming a favourite, but I can’t deny I had a really good time with it. I won’t say ‘classic’ but you might.