Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Madhouse Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf October 24, 2015

A farce doesn’t have to be friendly, but there should be some degree of likability to help encourage viewer engagement. Non-stop mean-spiritedness committed by selfish, bellowing characters isn’t exactly a welcome mat for outsiders, with 1990’s “Madhouse” a prime example of comic lunacy souring at the moment of impact. Imagined as a wily, mischievous journey with pushy houseguests, the feature marches right towards absurdity, with writer/director Tom Ropelewski mistaking noise for timing. The picture is certainly jam-packed with incident, and performances work up a sweat as they try to communicate the simplest of reactions with flailing body parts and wide eyes. However, laughs are missing from the movie, which is so caught up in maintaining a madcap tone, it doesn’t make room for any considered punchlines.

A beaming yuppie couple on the verge of great professional and personal success in Los Angeles, investment banker Mark (John Larroquette) and television news reporter Jessie (Kirstie Alley) have moved into the house of their dreams, ready to begin their life together. However, plans for romance are canceled by the arrival of Mark’s cousin Fred (John Diehl) and his motormouth wife, Bernice (Jessica Lundy). Offering the couple (and their demented cat, Scruffy) a place to stay for five days, Mark and Jessie hope for a peaceful visit. Unfortunately, chaos erupts when Fred disappears and Bernice has to go on bed rest after her pregnancy is threatened by an accident, while Jessie’s sister, Claudia (Alison La Placa), requests a bed after leaving her sugar daddy. Pushed out of their dwelling when accidents begin to pile up and more people arrive looking for temporary shelter, Mark and Jessie are driven to madness, allowing the domestic nightmare to interfere with their jobs and sex life.

There’s nothing serious about “Madhouse” besides its commitment to mediocrity. Screenplay architecture is clear, as Ropelewski (who would go on to direct “Look Who’s Talking Now”) endeavors to create a pressurized environment of polite submission, watching Mark and Jessie allow friends and family to walk all over them as rooms are claimed and damage begins to occur around the property. It’s an exercise in escalation, only there’s no appealing starting point, with the happy couple initially imagined as egotistical snobs who know little about sincerity. The twosome is our guide into the wilds of permissiveness that fill “Madhouse,” and Ropelewski attempts to conjure sympathy for the couple as they’re subjected to all types of household horrors. And yet, in a weird way, Mark and Jessie almost deserve the punishment. I wish the picture was this subversive, attempting to grow fangs and jolt the audience with a dollop of karmic justice, but Ropelewski isn’t that brave. Instead, Mark and Jessie are transformed into victims, with their primary crime being selfless hospitality, watching five days of discomfort turn into two months of hell.

“Madhouse” has a strange sense of humor. In fact, a case could be made that the feature doesn’t have a sense of humor at all. Ropelewski concentrates on a snowballing sense of annoyance, with the arrival of Fred and Bernice only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to horrors visited on the couple. Humiliations are big business here, watching Mark endure derisive laughs as home movies of his years as an overweight child are displayed. Bernice’s deafening tone and nonstop talking is amplified as she’s put on bed rest, forcing Mark and Jessie to cater to her every whim, including the shipment of urine to her New Jersey doctor. Claudia sets up shop in the exercise room, showering her Middle Eastern ex with racial slurs as she makes a plan to replace him with another fabulously rich man. There are neighbors ushered into the home when their dwelling burns down due to a preventable accident, with the youngest member of the family, C.K. (Aeryk Egan), electing to carve a curse word into the backyard lawn, while teen daughter Katy (Deborah Otto) hits on Mark, seductively sharing news that her period has arrived. Claudia’s seemingly innocent son turns to cocaine trafficking in Mark’s name to make extra money. And there’s the saga of Scruffy, a mean cat with a weak stomach that endures multiple accidents and burials, but won’t stay dead (die-hard animal lovers should probably steer clear of this film, which delights in feline punishment).

Problems multiply, they overtake Mark and Jessie’s work life, they stomp all over their sex life, and the hits keep on coming for the couple. And yet, through it all, nothing ever resembles a joke in “Madhouse,” with the bulk of funny business devoted to Larroquette’s Steve Martin impression and Alley’s screamy loudness. Ropelewski goes crude and he goes broad (yes, an elephant somehow factors into the plot), but he never lands a laugh, making “Madhouse” an exercise in futility as everything is devoted to one single goal that’s never achieved. Even stranger, the effort is definitely muted to a certain degree, with R-rated material softened to fit PG-13 standards, suggesting that, at one point, the movie was intended to be even more coarse and unpleasant.

Madhouse Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.84:1 aspect ratio) presentation does a fine job bringing "Madhouse" to the HD realm, though softness remains. Colors are generally secure, showcasing an impressive range of primaries that preserve the feature's production period (hues are big on costuming, opening animation, backyard greenery), while skintones are natural. Detail is passable for this type of movie, finding close-ups communicative with exaggerated reactions and interior visits are textured with set decoration. Grain is passably filmic. Delineation struggles to a degree with evening adventures, but remains healthy overall. Speckling is found, but no overt damage spots are detected.

Madhouse Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix is basic in design, never investing in a sophisticated balance of music and drama. Dialogue exchanges hit a few crispy highs, but the essentials are stable and intelligibility is never challenged. Scoring is supportive, emphasizing broader comedic beats without steamrolling over the human element. Soundtrack cuts offer comfortable instrumentation. Atmospherics are acceptable, managing interior distances and the group dynamic. A few pops are present, but hiss isn't an issue.

Madhouse Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Theatrical Trailer (1:47, HD) is included.

Madhouse Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Madhouse" soon works to an extended climax of revenge and even more destruction, stopping along the way to work in a nightmare sequence (Mark imagines his houseguests as zombies) and cover professional disasters as the couple faces ruin at work due to all the distractions and stress. There's a tiny bit more to the movie than just a simple domestic invasion, but there's little variation when it comes to humor, leaving a feature deprived of creative oxygen as it explores the dismantling of an already unhappy home.