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The Man with Two Brains (1983)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
A sublime comedy of love and brains, The Man with Two Brains features Steve Martin at his wacky best. Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr (Steve Martin), a conceited but brilliant surgeon, is being interviewed by yet another prestigious journal. Having pioneered a radical medical breakthrough, the cranial screw-top method, Hfuhruhurr is (by his own admission) the world's top brain specialist. However, he's still grieving over the untimely death of his wife Rebecca (which explains why he carries a little plastic doll of her everywhere). In a moment of inattention, caused by this heartbreak, he knocks over the beautiful Dolores Benedict (Kathleen Turner) -- and he's the only man on the planet who can save her life.

What Hfuhruhurr doesn't realise is that she's just killed the latest in a long line of husbands, aggravating him to death. In essence, she's a gold-digger. However, since Dolores was cut out of the will, she's on the look out for a new victim and, from her hospital bed, Hfuhruhurr seems to be the best prospect. A few finger-sucks later and he's been ensnared by the beautiful, sexy and deadly Dolores. The problem is that she's just a tease, denying her new husband consummation of their marriage while happily knocking-off the gardener. Unsurprisingly stressed by this sexual manipulation, Hfuhruhurr takes them on a delayed honeymoon to Austria.

This is a somewhat fortuitous move since Hfuhruhurr gets to meet another mad brain specialist, Dr. Necessiter (David Warner). The surprise is that his new-found colleague has a large collection of live brains in his castle-like laboratory; Hfuhruhurr is in heaven. To the background story of the infamous elevator killer, Hfuhruhurr dumps Dolores for committing adultery and falls for pickled brain No.21, Ann Uumellmahaye (Sissy Spacek). They seem to have a private telepathic link, with the result that Hfuhruhurr starts to love Ann for her mind rather than her non-existent body. Unfortunately her brain is deteriorating fast, Necessiter can only transfer people into apes and Dolores is still on the hunt for Hfuhruhurr's money.

A terrific spoof of mad scientist pictures, The Man with Two Brains barely puts a foot wrong. A succession of effective visual gags (such as Hfuhruhurr carrying his brides over the threshold) are complemented by bizarre and witty dialogue. Underpinning this mayhem, Martin is the star of the show and given free reign with his comic talents. By playing Hfuhruhurr fairly straight (quirks and all), the simplest situation reveals humour (such as his continual elevator troubles). An added attraction is that Turner fills out the money-grabbing bitch from hell role to perfection, spitting out her lines with real venom and still looking sexy. Martin and Turner are a great match, a fine piece of casting.

An equally surprising aspect of The Man with Two Brains is that it doesn't flag or stumble, producing a high quotient of laughs throughout. Physical and verbal jokes are mixed well, succeeding because the initial premise is superb - that a respectable scientist could love a brain that lives in a jar (an idea that could have been handled in a much more sentimental fashion). The only weak points of The Man with Two Brains are that the comedy is amusing rather than gut-wrenchingly funny (quite low-key, in fact) and that the characters are rather shallow. The latter point isn't too amazing, given that this is a light comedy, but it doesn't have to be this way. Anyway, regardless of these points, where else can you see Steve Martin smooch with somebody's frontal lobes?

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