User reviews

Set in the 1930s, an honest, goodhearted man (Michael Keaton) is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills.

This was Amy Heckerling's follow-up to "Fast Times at Ridgmont High", and probably not the hard-hitting film people expected out of her. But too bad, because this is gem in its own right. Some have called the humor hit and miss (and that is not completely unfair), but the hits are particularly good. Keaton's Cagney impression is great.

Michael Keaton in general was strong throughout the 1980s, and hopefully with his Oscar boost ("Birdman") people will start to re-appreciate his career. Lots of winners in there, and "Johnny Dangerously" is one of them.

"Johnny Dangerously" is one of those movies that exists for the sole purpose of being silly, much like "Airplane!". Michael Keaton plays Johnny Kelly, who once became a gangster under the name Johnny Dangerously, to pay his mother's (Maureen Stapleton) bills. His nemesis is Danny Vermin (Joe Piscopo). After a series of mix-ups, Johnny's brother Tommy (Griffin Dunne) becomes a marked man.

That's the plot, but you don't even need to pay attention to the plot. The whole movie is an excuse for a bunch of goofy occurrences, such as when the year is shown in the opening scene, and a car runs over the numbers, or when someone lights a cigarette and Johnny turns to the camera and reminds the children in the audience never to start smoking. My favorite character was Roman Moronie, just because of how he tried to curse and ended up saying things like "fargin' iceholes". Oh, and Alan Hale appears in one of his non-Skipper roles. In my opinion, one of the neatest lines was, after Lil (Marilu Henner) hears Johnny's name, she says: "I've never met a man whose last name was an adverb."

The jokes are obvious, the gags are corny, and the characters are walking characatures - but I couldn't stop from laughing at his highly entertaining movie. No matter how many times I see it, I still get a kick out of this one, and I recommend it highly for all lovers of mindless entertainment. It contains many quotable moments, and some of the best sight-gags I've seen to this day. If you've had a bad week and you need a chuckle, rent this one on your way home Friday night to give your weekend a good start.

Hilarious, under rated gangster spoof about an essentially good hearted boy who grows up to be Johnny Dangerously (Michael Keaton), AKA: John Shannon, who uses his ill gotten gains to support his family - his ailing mom and send his little brother to law school, of all places. Things get sticky though when an old foe (Joe Piscapoe) comes after Johnny and his girlfriend (Marilu Henner) and Johnny's own brother tries to come after him as part of his mission to clean up the city.

Lots of great gags, like Johnny advising kids to chew gum instead of smoking, Johnny's jail house striped suit, the running gag of Joe Piscapoe's character saying that certain members of his family did something to him "once... ONCE.", the running gag of Johnny's brother being unable to resist the temptation of sex, and of course, the fireworks that go off whenever Johnny gets laid.

Two people at the beginning of their film careers; director Amy Heckerling (who two years earlier directed the Cameron Crow penned "Fast Times at Ridgemont High") and Michael Keaton (in only his second leading role, after "Mr Mom" and a support role in his breakthrough film "Nightshift") come together with "Johnny Dangerously" to bring us a flighty, colourful and madcap send-up of gangster films of the 1930s. Johnny Kelly as a kid turned to crime (despite it would break his mother's heart if she knew), but in the order to pay for her medical bills he didn't see any other way since they were quite poor. So the years have past and he has become attached to it and a big player in the mob, where he would be known as Johnny Dangerously. The spoof might be hit and miss, but it always remains agreeably light-weight and Keaton just had a knack for comic timing. The wilily unrestrained material (stormed up by four writers -- well there you go) creates one gag after another, either visually, verbally or simply combining the two in a very cartoon-like manner. It really does have that old-fashion screwball mentality, but still some wit behind it and the conviction for fast moving, running gags. The silly dialogues are amusingly snappy (especially the lines from Dimitri; murdering the English language "This is fargan war!"), irony laced but with a dry sense. So many cracker lines fill the feature. Heckerling zesty direction goes hand-in-hand with the cheerful style and it's perfectly apt with the golden age period with its set designs, locations and costume work. Weird Al Yankovic chips in with the spiritedly illustrative title song, and the music score is a flavoursome effort of the era. Charmingly vibrant performances lend well with the likes of Peter Boyle, Griffin Dunne, Joe Piscopo, Danny Deviot (who's good fun), Maureen Stapleton (she's absolutely great!), Dom Deluise, Richard Dimitri and the sprightly redheaded siren Marilu Henner. Dom DeLuise and Ray Walston turn up in small comic cameos too. Pleasurably over-the-top entertainment.

All of those who voted less than 5 are obviously not fans of clean, tongue-in-cheek humor. Keaton is brilliant in this - as in most of his work. This is not a blockbuster, bigger-than-life affair. This is campy, slapstick humor played out by some of Hollywood's best (and very versatile) actors. Piscopo was equally on the mark as the top dog wannabee, once.

If you want to see the funniest attempt at not really cussing ever filmed, you gotta see Dimitri do his piece as Morone.

I gave it a 7.

As far as parody films go, there are few that are worth time and energy. but with a recent resurgence of horrid parodies such as Date Movie and The Comebacks, it is a breath of fresh air to come back and rediscover a truly funny farce like Johnny Dangerously.

After his mother has no end of medical problems, little Johnny goes to work for the mob. What fallows is a series of gags, most of which work, there are, however, the occasional flops. But a foreign gangster who can't master the American language (profanity wise, at least), a rival gangster with a penchant for shooting his mouth off (...once!), a younger brother with the D.A. who is out to get Johhny Dangerously, and a hot young starlet hot for his affections have Johnny busy.

And the viewer will be busy laughing, for the most part, as every gangster-movie cliché is skewered by a talented cast and decent writing.

Not perfect by a long shot, but definitely good for a smile on a bad day.

Reading over all the great quotes from this movie, I found myself laughing out loud and wondering why I had rated Johnny Dangerously so mediocre-ly after the last time I'd seen it a few years ago.

Than I actually watched it again and remembered. Yes, this film has lots of memorable lines and a few funny scenes. But due to many dead spots and comedic bits that just don't click, it doesn't work as a consistently enjoyable whole.

There's a tipping point for this kind of movie, a percentage of rapid fire jokes that have to work so that you can forget the ones that don't. Airplane succeeds, Airplane 2 doesn't. Johnny Dangerously comes close, but doesn't quite make it.

I must admit, tho, it's still pretty farkin' enjoyable watching Michael Keaton hamming it up playing a role he was born to play.

Yes, Keaton looks like he really did enjoy making this film. With a skip in his step in his tailored pin-striped suits, he'll remind you of Jimmy Cagney! Johnny (Keaton) is the young hood who only does it to pay for his mother's high-priced medical bills & to send his younger brother (Griffin Dunne) to law school. No one even knows Johnny Kelly IS Johnny Dangerously until later on in the film. Joe Piscopo is Vermin & doesn't like Johnny one bit (& I don't like Vermin). Marilu Henner has a nice singing/dancing routine while Johnny revels in it. I love the part when they're in the ever-changing getaway car! The cop who's "calling all cars" is the Skipper from Gilligan's Island! See this one for 1930's gangster laughs! The gags in this film are hilarious but you have to catch them or you'll miss them! Look in the background of every scene.

I don't write many reviews but sometimes a movie just screams for one. This movie is completely awful. Wow. I heard some people say how funny it is so I decided to give it a try. I grew up in the 80's but I never saw this movie back in 1984. I am glad I didn't waste my money. I watched this movie on Amazon Prime Video and the acting is cheesy and terrible. The dialog is painful and the plot makes little sense and is just there to provide a back drop for lame one liners.

I expected a little more from Micheal Keaton but I think all actors have one or two movies that they would love to forget. I imagine that Keaton cringes every time this movie is mentioned.

Do not waste you time.

This movie is just too funny, a totally non-PC gangster romp. If Mel Brooks made a picture about the Mob in the 30's, it would probably look like this. Too many great one-liners to to remember, and while its not for everyone, anyone who DOESNT laugh a whole bunch of times doesnt have a pulse. So, put it on and LAUGH you Iceholes!!!

Well, "Airplane" was released in 1980 and proved a cash cow so it was inevitable that sequels, imitations, and rip offs should follow. The duo responsible for the first, Zucker and Abrahams, did it best. They imitated themselves with relish and with skill. "Johnny Dangerously" is amusing too but not quite in the same vein as the others. In high school English class I was always puzzled by the distinction between parody, satire, and farce. With little help from the teacher, Ms. Olive Rapp, I decided that a parody consisted of gently making fun of something, that a satire involved edgier ridicule, and that a farce was a fast comedy in which people fell over things like furniture.

This is a satire of 1930s gangster movies that sometimes elbows its way uncertainly into farce territory. For the most part, the laughs lie in the often witty dialog. And there ARE laughs. Many of them come from Richard Dimitri's character of Roman Troy Moronie, a caricature of a mustachioed foul-mouth Italian rival of the Kelly gang. He's always overwrought, teeth bared with rage, his eyes blacked out like the villain's in a Charlie Chaplin short. He reads a statement to the congressional committee investigating him: Something like, "Ladies and Gentlemen. You cork-sacking foragging faggots ain't got no right to take a man's freedom." He gets deported to Sweden.

The plot follows the usual formula of the gangster movie. Michael Keaton is one of the Kelly brothers. Their "Ma", Maureen Stapleton) is always suffering from some increasingly expensive illness or other that doesn't stop her from plodding on with her laundry in order to support her two boys now that their Dad is gone. (A photo of Dad hangs in the kitchen; he's in a striped prison suit and strapped in an electric chair.) Keaton changes his last name to Dangerously so that Ma and his younger brother don't know about his sensational career in crime. He even puts his brother through law school and when he becomes D.A. the clash is inevitable.

Keaton does all right as Johnny Dangerously but is perhaps outdone, or at least outwritten, by some of the supporting players. Some of the sight gags are dated and a few are sloppy but the film is redeemed by the dialog, which can get pretty funny, funner than a similar satire (or is it a parody) in "Movie, Movie."

One of the first of the gangster spoof movies this is the story of Michael Keaton's Johnny Kelly sucked into Peter Boyle's New York gang before eventually leading it. This is confused by the fact that Johnny's brother (Griffin Dunne) is the DA seeking to put New York's crime lords away.

The film is silly from start to finish - the plot doesn't make sense and the characters are overblown, but that's the whole point - it's meant to be a spoof and it is. The jokes are quite hit-and-miss, but the majority hit and are funny, although you do need to be in the mood for it.

Michael Keaton is perfect in the lead role, clearly enjoying himself immensely and is on-form for the whole movie. The whole cast provide good support in a series of fun roles - Griffin Dunne is great as the DA, Danny DeVito top in a small role as the crooked DA (or host of game show "play ball"!). Richard Dimitri is hilarious as the gangster of unknown origin, guilty of murdering the english language (fargin' funny!), Peter Boyle is good as Johnny's boss, but Joe Piscopo is the best support as the gangster with attitude ("once").

The film is a fun throwback spoof. Every element of the film is exaggerated and the majority of it comes off well. Yes some jokes miss but they come so thick and fast that the next one is never far away.

"Johnny Dangerously" is a sort of hit and miss comedy that has it's laughs and "huh?". But I suggest to give it a chance. I think it is greatly over looked. Not too many people give this movie a chance. It does work. Just think of it as a little parody of "Goodfellas". Michael Keaton is very funny in his role. And he does it well. Johnny Dangerously is a gangster who wants to go higher in life. He just works his way up from the big bosses to a beautiful wife. And of course like a lot of the mob movies, someone wants him dead. 90% of the jokes get a laugh. Like, I said give it a chance. Just take your favortie gangster movies and mix a comedy in. You have "Johnny Dangerously".

7/10

I had fond memories of this movie, but it was actually funnier in my mind. This screwball parody of gangster films is fun, but it didn't make me laugh as much as I had hoped. Plus, I didn't pick up on all the innuendo as a kid. I do now - this film is full of it!

Michael Keaton is "Johnny Dangerously" in this 1984 take-off on gangster movies. Maureen Stapleton plays his sickly mother, Griffin Dunne is his DA brother, Peter Boyle is his boss, and Marilu Henner is his girlfriend. Other stars include Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo.

Keaton plays a pet store owner in the 1930s who catches a kid stealing a puppy and then tells him, in flashback, how he came to own the pet store.

He turned to thievery at a young age to get his mother a pancreas operation ($49.95, special this week) and began working for a mob boss (Boyle). Johnny uses the last name "Dangerously" in the mobster world.

There are some hilarious scenes in this film, and Stapleton is a riot as Johnny's foul-mouthed mother who needs every organ in her body replaced.

Peter Boyle as Johnny's boss gives a very funny performance, as does Griffin Dunne, a straight arrow DA who won't "play ball" with crooked Burr (Danny De Vito).

As Johnny's nemesis, Joe Piscopo is great. Richard Dimitri is a standout as Moronie, who tortures the English language - but you have to hear him do it rather than read about it. What makes it funny is that he does it all with an angry face.

The movie gets a little tired toward the end, but it's well worth seeing, and Keaton is terrific as good boy/bad boy Johnny.

For some reason, this film was underrated when it was released, and like Keaton's other gem, "Night Shift," you don't hear much about it today. With some performances and scenes that are real gems, you'll find "Johnny Dangerously" immensely enjoyable.

It's the fav of our oldest son (now 43), way back when. Hence, Mom & Dad saw it more than we wanted to.

Even so, it's semi-slapstick by design, and kind of works. With many sight-gags, and non-stop facetious / sarcastic dialogue, it's fun.

Decent plot, (whose main function is to be a vehicle for gags and one-liners); and a good cadre of actors, most of which are retired or passed. From Don DeLuise, to Ray Waldron, to Maureen Stapleton, these are not names you'd expect to see together in a mid 80s flick.

For what the producers/director intended, they hit the mark more than less. So I gave it a 7.

Just fun enough.

Bob R.

For a movie that gets no respect there sure are a lot of memorable quotes listed for this gem. Imagine a movie where Joe Piscopo is actually funny! Maureen Stapleton is a scene stealer. The Moroni character is an absolute scream. Watch for Alan "The Skipper" Hale jr. as a police Sgt.

Michael Keaton plays the title role, a young man in Prohibition-era NYC who turns to crime in order to pay his mothers' (Maureen Stapleton) frequent medical bills. He finds that he does indeed have the knack to make it in the world of organized crime. However, this puts him at odds with his younger brother (Griffin Dunne), who's grown up to be a crusading district attorney. Johnny romances sexy torch singer Lil Sheridan (Marilu Henner) and must put up with Danny Vermin (Joe Piscopo), an arch-rival since their childhood days.

"Johnny Dangerously" gets off to a good start with its Weird Al Yankovic theme song, and is generally good, agreeable, silly fun. It may never be truly inspired, but it made this viewer smile often enough to rate it as a decent comedy. There are some good gags here and there, with Keaton a hoot as he does his best Jimmy Cagney imitation. In fact, the cast is packed with familiar faces who are all fantastic; basically, they elevate so-so material: Peter Boyle as a mob boss, Glynnis O'Connor as Dunnes' fiancee, Richard Dimitri as English-language mangling mobster Moronie, Danny DeVito as the crooked D. A. whose job Dunne inherits, Sudie Bond as a cleaning lady, etc. The cameos are especially fun: Dom DeLuise, Ray Walston, Ron Carey, and a few others I won't spoil here. Piscopo is a hoot as Johnny's nemesis, who wants to run the mob his own way.

Director Amy Heckerling, hot off the success of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", gives this comedy fairly good energy, and it moves along well, generating some good vibes as it pokes fun at the gangster melodramas of the 1930s and 40s. There are some truly priceless jokes towards the end during Johnny's prison escape sequence.

Six out of 10.

I'm typically on board for silly spoof films like Johnny Dangerously, but I think it takes a careful hand in the writing to pull off this kind of comedy, and I don't think they had that here. I'm not saying that I never laughed or that all the comedy was a failure, in fact there were a few solid jokes that were quite funny. They also stuck with a couple of running gags long enough that they managed to make me laugh out loud. That being said, the majority of the film did nothing to bring me that level of joy, and some of the jokes were painfully bad. I also wonder if this kind of spoof works better if you have a greater appreciation for the material it is parodying. Since I'm not a fan of gangster films in general, it doesn't do as much for me when they are mocked. It's like watching a roast for a celebrity you barely know anything about.

One of my other struggles with Johnny Dangerously is that I find it a little awkward when I'm asked to root for mobsters. The main character isn't exactly a hero, so I don't enjoy him filling the role of protagonist. I know the whole point of the story is that he was on the wrong path, but despite that framework for the plot, it doesn't feel like his life choices are being displayed as bad. Admittedly, there's a strong chance this movie would be a perennial favorite for me if I had seen it when I was younger. There are several comedies that probably aren't quite as hilarious as I think they are, which I happened to watch at the right age. Because I was an easier mark for cheap laughs at a young age, Johnny Dangerously might have been a hit, but seeing it now for the first time left me underwhelmed and wishing for something more.

Michael Keaton had the job of not only portraying the fictional gangster Johnny Dangerously, but he had to play the role by giving his best James Cagney impression. From the Irish smile, the walk and the way he hung his gangster type hat on his head, Keaton captured the Rocky Sullivan character from the 1940's. Like Keaton's character, many of the sets the movie was shot on were taken right out of movies like Little Caesar and Public Enemy. The Club Scene is right out of Little Caesar as well as the exterior of the hotel and the downtown newspaper stands. The Mafia's office room is straight out of Little Caesar as well. An amazingly funny cast including Danny DeVito, you can't beat this comedy. A well done story with non stop comic relief with great production value and acting.

Johnny Dangerously falls completely in the hit or miss category with it's overblown gags and complete lack of a comprehensive script or story that makes ANY sense. But that's the point, right?

The cast is likable; Michael Keaton an excellent comic performer before he took himself too seriously as the years passed. Griffin Dunne, Peter Boyle, Joe Piscopo, Marilu Henner and Danny DeVito all perform with enthusiasm and at least get a lot of laughs from me. But the complete scene stealer here is Richard Dimitri (sneaking the word "Iceholes" into movie history) as a mobster who fares best at murdering the English language.

I associate many childhood memories with this film, as I watched it quite often so maybe I'm prone to enjoy it more than many others. Johnny Dangerously is at least a completely innocent gangster film spoof that even relays some well meaning messages about the dangers of smoking (and sex).

I like it but it's hard to recommend.

7 out of 10.

Just as "ITS A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD" is at the top of my list for all time greatest comedies ever made, this one is at the very bottom. (Of course, I could be wrong-not having seen "SAVING SILVERMAN") In other words, it's a lame, lame, lame, lame comedy.

Rating: 1/2* out of *****