Jealous, harried air traffic controller Max Fiedler, recently dumped by his girlfriend, comes into contact with nuclear waste and is granted the power of telekinesis, which he uses not only ... Read allJealous, harried air traffic controller Max Fiedler, recently dumped by his girlfriend, comes into contact with nuclear waste and is granted the power of telekinesis, which he uses not only to win her back, but to gain a little revenge.Jealous, harried air traffic controller Max Fiedler, recently dumped by his girlfriend, comes into contact with nuclear waste and is granted the power of telekinesis, which he uses not only to win her back, but to gain a little revenge.
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
- Vendor
- (as Ron House)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaChevy Chase was nearly electrocuted during a stunt in the sequence in which he is wearing "landing lights" and dreams that he is an airplane. The lights' wiring short-circuited through his arm, back, and neck, which caused him to lose consciousness.
- GoofsAfter Max levitates the bar of soap, the soap lands in the sink. In the close-up, two holes for the string can be seen.
- Quotes
Brian Stills: Well, I'll be a striped-ass ape! Max Fiedler!
Max Fielder: Brian? Wow!
Brian Stills: How are you, you old egg-sucker? Damn, you look good. How long's it been? Not since high school, huh? Say, where are my manners? This is Dorita. She's from Port-au-Prince.
Max Fielder: Hi.
Lorraine: Hi.
Dorita: How do you do?
Max Fielder: Oh, Lorraine, this is Brian Stills, an old friend of mine from, uh, high school. Brian, this is my ex-wife, Lorraine.
Brian Stills: Pleased to meet you, Lorraine.
Lorraine: Nice to meet you, Brian.
Brian Stills: [Points to wheelchair] Admiring the old skateboard? I got my ass blown off in Nam. Crazy damn thing. I was loving this little girl. She was hiding ammo, for the Cong under the bed. I lit a cigarette, woke up in the hospital with medals all over the place.
Lorraine: God, talk about sex with fireworks.
Max Fielder: Jesus, Lorraine.
Brian Stills: No, it's funny, really.
- Crazy creditsAlternate takes (without audio) are shown of the main characters during the end credits.
- SoundtracksGonna Get It Next Time
Performed by The Tubes
Arranged and produced by David Foster
Courtesy of Capitol Records
Lyrics by Adrienne Anderson
Music by Dominic Frontiere
Coming from the feature is a cruel, rude and mean-spirited vibe (which was done better in Martin Scorsese's 1985 dark comedy 'After Hours') that sees Chase in quite a dreary cloud of sappiness and finding himself in one degrading mishap after another and to cap it off his girlfriend has just left him because of his clingy nature. One night while driving his car behind a truck, the context in the tanker (nuclear waste) ends up on him giving the abilities of telekinesis and a nice green glow. He then begins use this power in ridding any sort of obstacles that get in the way of reuniting with his ex-girlfriend (which is beautifully played by Patti D'Arbanville).
With a better script (which includes plenty of sexual innuendo), it could have been so much more, but while the cast (featuring Dabney Coleman, Nell Carter, Mary Kay Place and Brian Doyle-Murray) do the best. The one-joke script lets them down. The humour is mainly off the mark, as it never rises above the superfluous material and characters are not particularly engaging (especially Chase's loathsome character). It's a story were the humour contributes, rather than just being there for the sake of it, however it's a awkward mess of staged ideas and plastered visual gags. The special effects are modest, pacing is flat, style seems bland and the film looks quite murky. There's a real lack of passion, but director Ken Shapiro is saved by a few amusing (brisk, but enjoyable) comedic inclusions. But in the end these peculiar touches just weren't enough.
Far from a laugh-riot with a little too much dead space, but 'Modern Problems' remains barely a passable throwaway.
- lost-in-limbo
- Jan 7, 2009
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Flygande bekymmer
- Filming locations
- Long Island Expressway, New York, USA(Max driving his new Lancia Beta Coupe down the L.I.E. passing Exit 16)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $8,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $26,154,211
- Gross worldwide
- $26,154,211