Modern Problems (1981)

My Review

“Modern Problems” is a comedy film about a man who loses his girl friend, and just when he thought things couldn’t get worse, on his way home from a party a truck spills nuclear waste on his car. The next day he notices has supernatural powers and the limited comedy proceeding from there, due to mediocre direction by Ken Shapiro and a terribly written and confusing screenplay he co-wrote with Tom Sherohman and Arthur Sellers.

Chevy Chase plays the lead role of a film which gives him few opportunities to display his patented form of comedy. Shame on Shapiro for wasting a talented performer such as Chase. Co-stars include Patti D’Arbanville, Dabney Coleman, Mary Kay Place, Nell Carter, and Brain Doyle-Murray. “Modern Problems” has too many problems to qualify as enjoyable viewing but did have some success at the box office for 20th Century Fox. It was filmed in New York City and Los Angeles, especially at the 20th Century Fox Studios in Century City.