Delirious * (1991, John Candy, Mariel Hemingway, Emma Samms, Raymond Burr, David Rasche, Dylan Baker, Jerry Orbach, Renée Taylor, Charles Rocket) – Classic Movie Review 11,591

Director Tom Mankiewicz’s 1991 comedy Delirious stars John Candy, Mariel Hemingway, Emma Samms and Raymond Burr in his last feature film role.

John Candy stars in a would-be smart, zany, surreal comedy as Jack Gable, a writer of a daytime soap called Beyond Our Dreams, who has a car accident and wakes up to find himself in the show’s fictional setting with his characters playing their parts for real. More, Gable (Candy) has the power to write himself and the world just as he wants.

The increasingly likeable and huge Candy, plus Mariel Hemingway, Emma Samms, Raymond Burr, Robert Wagner, David Rasche, Jerry Orbach and Renée Taylor, try their hardest to make this useful idea work. But no amount of laughs, smiling, mugging or overacting will get the stalled vehicle started.

It flopped. Costing $18 million, it grossed $5,546,827.

Written by Lawrence J Cohen and Fred Freeman, the film uses Prince’s 1982 song ‘Delirious’ as its title theme. ‘Delirious’ is from Prince’s 1982 album, 1999. It was the album’s third single, and Prince’s second Top 10 hit, reaching No. 8 in the US in autumn 1983.

Raymond Burr plays Carter Hedison.

The cast are John Candy as Jack Gable, Mariel Hemingway as Janet DuBois/ Louise, Emma Samms as Rachel Hedison/ Laura Claybourne, David Rasche as Dr Paul Kirkwood/ Dennis, Charles Rocket as Ty Hedison, Dylan Baker as Blake Hedison, Jerry Orbach as Lou Sherwood, Renée Taylor as Arlene Sherwood, Raymond Burr as Carter Hedison, Andrea Thompson as Nurse Helen Caldwell/ Lee, Zach Grenier as Mickey, Marvin Kaplan as Typewriter Repairman, Milt Oberman as Arnie Federman, and Mark Boone Junior as Cable Man, with Robert Wagner as Jack Gates (uncredited) and Margot Kidder as Woman in restroom (uncredited).

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,591

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