Cabin Boy (1994)

Such a frustrating disappointment

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This is a love it or hate it movie for most people. For me it's a classic that does everything right. Pure absurd tongue in cheek self aware with great set design (by Tim Burton!) and comedic actors. The line delivery is often awkward but this just adds to the hilarity. But if you don't like absurd comedy or slapstick or dorky self deprecating sorts of humor then you will likely hate this. My sisters tell me my opinions on movies are suspect forever since I rate this one so highly. Some people will click with this movie and many won't. But if you are one of the lucky few with the properly twisted funny bone then this movie is nothing short of perfect. Highly recommended for fancy lads and ladies.

Imagine one of those weird little skits you used to see on Late Night with either David Letterman or Conan O'Brian. You know, one of those where some surreal character comes out and does some silly stuff for a minute or so and then goes away. Now imagine one of those skits without a host there to play straight man, no studio audience to draw energy from and it goes on for almost an hour and a half. Congratulations! You've now seen Cabin Boy.Nathanial Mayweather (Chris Elliott) is a prissy, fussy, arrogant, dimwitted son of a rich man. After graduating from finishing school is all his bewigged glory, Nathanial gets misdirected and instead of winding up on a luxury cruiser taking him home to Hawaii, he winds up a cabin boy on a fishing boat named The Filthy Whore. After a whole bunch of lame inanity with 4 grubby and overacting fishermen, Nathanial falls in love at first sight with a girl swimming around the world and must prove his manhood to her by having sex with the slutty 2nd cousin of the Hindu goddess Shiva. And that's not as funny as it may sound. After teaming up with a shark man to battle a giant appliance salesman (that's a giant salesman who sells appliances, not a regular size salesman who sells giant appliances), Nathanial realizes he no longer wants a life of aimless wealth and rides his new girlfriend out to sea. Again, not as funny as it may sound.This film is like a primer on why Letterman has gotten his ass kicked in the ratings by Jay Leno for years, why Conan bombed at The Tonight Show and hasn't set the world on fire at TBS and why there are so many comics beloved of other comics who never manage to achieve much mainstream success. There's a certain breed of comedian who are mainly focused on entertaining themselves. They're usually very bright and clever, oftentimes dark or subversive or edgy, but their humor is disconnected from or perpendicular to what other people find funny. They just make themselves laugh and if it amuses anyone else, that's a bonus. Such inwardly directed, almost defiant comedy can be hilarious to the general public in small bursts. It's essentially impossible to sustain it for a long period of time, something Cabin Boy makes agonizingly clear.I suppose disaffected, supercilious hipsters might find some laughs in this movie, or at least convince themselves to laugh at what they think only they are "with it" enough to appreciate. Normal folk will only stare at the screen in slackjawed amazement at how pitiful it all is. There's no narrative standard by which anything in this motion picture works. The attempts at humor are so fractured and esoteric that even stoned slackers would be hard pressed to summon up a giggle in response.Let me give you an example. Even back in 1994, goofy looking Chris Elliott was too balding and too bearded to play a kid fresh out of finishing school. We first see Nathanial when he's singing in a choir with his schoolmates. Now, a traditional attempt at comedy would fill the choir with fresh-faced teens and leave Elliott sticking out like a sore thumb. Cabin Boy fills the choir with guys who, just like Elliott, are far too old and too hirsute to pass for a student body. You see, you're supposed to anticipate the joke that would normally be told and instead appreciate them doing the complete opposite. This isn't smart humor. It's humor that wants to be applauded for being smart, which isn't the same at all.I quite enjoyed seeing Chris Elliott show up on the old Letterman show, not that I'm dating myself or anything. I didn't laugh or smile even once at this film. That pretty much says it all.

Critics hate this film because they see so much of themselves in the protagonist: A character who spends his whole overeducated, over-pampered life sneering at every one and every thing else, the self-appointed know it all who mocks everything but produces nothing.The protagonist is a critic, and the story makes fun of the protagonist.It was interesting and satisfying to see the protagonist's fate... and I laughed the whole way through. Summary: Unfortunately, people can't make a movie that trashes your run of the mill critic, and still hope for a good review. If you are a critic know it all, you'll hate "Cabin Boy". If you have an actual sense of humor you'll love it.Happiness guaranteed: That's what cabin boy is to me.

Cabin Boy is a work of genius, pure and simple!****** It's really as simple as this: The world divides into two kinds of people, those who GET Chris Elliot, and those who DON'T. If you're the former, you'll like this film, if you're the latter, you probably won't....DON"T WATCH IT!!! DON"T READ FURTHER...GO AWAY. ******My fellow Cabin Boy aficionados, surely you've all noticed that people of mediocre sensibilities ALWAYS respond to works of true genius with cries of derision and scorn ("oh, that's stupid!" etc. etc.) and even fear. When faced with something their small minds can't comprehend, the unenlightened masses always reach for their "torches" and seek to destroy. Even as the great virtuoso Paganini played his violin with an unimaginable speed and sweetness, never before seen in Italy, the crowd raised a cry of "Deviltry", "He is possessed", and chased him from the stage. You need only observe the drivel on television and churned out by Hollywood to appreciate the low sophistication level of today's spoon fed audience. Most people today just don't seem to be able to appreciate the difference between a big budget, Hollywood production that IS stupid and a low budget, good movie ABOUT stupidity...and unfortunately seem to prefer the former...in droves! I'm looking at YOU Adam Sandler...et al.Seriously, the production values of CB are pretty good for a low budget movie, The sets are well crafted, the cinematography and effects are spot on, the comedic timing of the talent is impeccable. It's NOT poorly made on any level; it's WELL crafted to create the desired effect. Sure it seems silly and looks cheesy...it's SUPPOSED to! The scripting and tone of CB is calculated to perfectly capture that unique Chris Elliot personae; the condescending, insufferably annoying, delusionallly self-satisfied, clueless idiot.It is the one movie that my friends and I watch over and over again when we get together and want to laugh in our cups. (that means we're drinking etc. ;-) for you less sophisticated CB haters)For the Cabin Boy fans: Watch the film "Captains Courageous" AFTER watching Cabin Boy...It's the 'serious' film CB is loosely parodying. You'll get a chuckle out of it. Cheers!"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left." Oscar Levant