My thoughts: It’s always touch-and-go when you riff something that claims to be a comedy, whether it’s a successful comedy or not–and I don’t think LSOH is funny at ALL. But I can see how, if you actually think parts of this movie are “hilarious,” as Mavis does, you could come to the conclusion the he comes to.
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Negative Review of RiffTrax’s “Little Shop of Horrors” DVDPaul Mavis at DVD Talk, who professes to LIKE “Little Shop of Horrors,” isn’t pleased with the RiffTrax DVD. That’s why there’s chocolate and vanilla I suppose.
31 Replies to “Negative Review of RiffTrax’s “Little Shop of Horrors” DVD”Commenting at Satellite News
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That might be the most boring and tedious review of a DVD I’ve ever read.
Meh. Didn’t think it was all that bad. If my memory serves right, he isn’t the only one i’ve heard say this Rifftrax isn’t very funny.
He pretty much sounds like the fans of This Island Earth who got bent out of shape over MST3K:TM. If it’s something you love it’s pretty hard to hear anyone take jabs at it.
I’ve always liked the original Little Shop of Horrors, but hilarious is never a word I’ve used to describe it. Personally I think the RiffTrax commentary helps make it much more watchable (especially after the first viewing).
Hi, I wrote the review for DVDTalk. Just to answer mst3ktemple’s belief that I might be “bent out of shape” hearing someone take jabs at Little Shop — actually, that’s not the case at all. And if you read my review, I make that pretty clear. I love MST3K — always have. Not liking this RiffTrax has nothing to do with “defending” LSOH. I find it very funny, but I would find their commentary equally funny…if it was. It just wasn’t for me. And as I said, comedy is subjective. But I’m not defending the movie against the RiffTrax — I’m just saying it’s not up to the film.
The Professor is right. I haven’t seen this particular Rifftrax, but it is surely possible it’s not the best one ever. I’ve seen some Rifftrax that were not up to par in my time. Heck, there are even MST3K eps. that I don’t particularly enjoy…even though the series overall may be my favorite TV show ever.
So give Mr. Mavis a break. At least he appreciates the form…he just wasn’t a fan of this particular outing. Fair enough. It’s not like when DVD Talk assigned the MST3K-hater Stuart Galbraith (“the IV”, if you please) to review a Cinematic Titanic installment and he–surprise–ripped it to shreds. That was just pointless and stupid.
Plus, Mavis has the stones to defend his review personally on this board, so he’s cool.
The real problem with Rifftrax is the simple fact that they’re going for quantity over quality. I watched House on Haunted Hill & Missile to the Moon recently, and while they were ok, they felt more like some of the MST season 4 filler episodes, and in many places they reverted to the season 1-2 practice of talking OVER the movie instead of having a “dialogue” with it as the very best episodes demonstrate is the best way to go, creating deeper, more intelligent riffing instead of just calling characters “stupid”.
Clearly, Mike & the others are not devoting their full creative energies as was seen in the final seasons of MST or even on the four Film Crew dvds, opting instead for a ridiculous output of mediocre quality. Too bad, really. Not saying its “bad”, but its not nearly as good as it could be.
Or, at the very least, they could try harder on the Rifftrax that will be released commercially on dvd.
Personally the only reason to watch LSOH non riffed is see Jack Nicohlson’s much too short appearance. Every other scene deserves whatever treatment the Rifftrax gang shovels on it. Anything to cover the vomit inducing stench the emmits from this stuck to the bottom of the barrel cinematic fecal pile. Hows that for a negative review!
I really don’t think you can usually expect someone who loves roger corman to enjoy anything MST3K related.
What bothers me about these DVDs is that they do such a terrible job on the DVDs themselves and not the content. They only inserted the black and white version? WTF? My home brewed DVDs had both color and black and white, plus both commentaries.
I have to admit, this wasn’t my favorite Rifftrax, either. In fact, several of the recent titles have been lacking for me, even compared to earlier Rifftrax, much less MST3K.
Maybe it’s the more frequent output – who knows? But, Mr. Mavis isn’t the only one to wish this Rifftrax was funnier. This dedicated Mike fan does, too.
Let me just throw in a couple of things here. After reading Mr. Mavis’ review, I don’t see it as an attack on Rifftrax itself anyway. It was a little dry. But all in all, harmless.
I agree, he definitely deserves a token of gratitude for explaining himself in person. I didn’t really like this Rifftrax either.
I think everybody is still on edge from having to defend our show from the likes of humorless jerks like Stuart Galbraith (I don’t care what # he is.) and that idiot who insighted a flame war for several days. All because he didn’t like MST. Lets try not to let those guys ruin our fun.
For the record. I love Roger Corman. I think it’s obvious that a lot of people worked very hard to make his movies, and they deserve credit for that. But hard work and effort doesn’t make you above be satirized. I love it whenever MST makes fun of him. Thanks for listening to my vent.
Yep, I can see how someone would think the riffing wasn’t all that great. It was pretty good riffing, but it’s certainly not MST3K. I have found that out for most of these RiffTrax DVDs. The worst offense is when Mike, Kevin and Bill beat a joke into the ground over several consecutive riffs.
This was the first time I saw Little Shop of Horrors in its entirety. I understand that it is deliberately funny, but it isn’t. To use an example from MST3K, the movie Hobgoblins is like TLSOH. Sure, it’s meant to be camp and goofy, but it doesn’t actually make the movie funny.
Hi Paul Mavis. No offense intended by my comments. Essentially you and I are saying the same thing. Comedy is very subjective. I was simply recalling how so many film critics didn’t care from MST3K:TM because they were fans of This Island Earth.
BTW, I also grew up watching Sir Graves and The Ghoul.
No offense taken at all, mst3ktemple — I just wanted to make my position a little clearer. And thanks everyone, for reading my review — all the posts have been fair and respectful (I certainly can’t always say that for some other sites that link my other reviews). I love discussions and feedback.
And anyone who grew up like me with Sir Graves and The Ghoul is aces with me. :smile:
Seems like a well-balanced review. To each their own.
I agree with the author of the article. There are many problems with Rifftrax, some of which have been covered in this thread already but I will state them again:
They put out WAY TOO MUCH MATERIAL. Instead of putting their best efforts into making each Rifftrax downright hilarious, they’ve settled into this groove of spitting out what has been referred to in the past as “state park jokes”, in other words, the jokes that any kid in kindergarten could come up with. HAHA! Flatulence is funny! You might as well have a guest riff from the current king of fart jokes, Larry the Cable Guy.
It is entirely possible that they need more help with the writing or are simply past their prime. You wouldn’t expect a running back to continue to produce 1,500 to 2,000 yards after he’s been in the league for a decade. If that analogy doesn’t work for you, how about a musician? Put your fanboyism aside and ask yourself how many of your favorite artists have continually cranked out fantastic albums late into their careers? No matter where your talents lie, we all reach a point where we can no longer produce like we once did. It’s called aging, some of us just do it more gracefully than others. Even Michael Jordan had to hang it up eventually, folks.
I do happen to think parts of this movie are hilarious, but I’m sane enough to realize it’s rife for riffing.
“I really don’t think you can usually expect someone who loves roger corman to enjoy anything MST3K related.”
Such attempts to preemptively pigeonhole and summarily dismiss all dissent aside, if the Rifftrax of LSOH is anything at all like the prior Mike Nelson commentary of same, I wouldn’t like it either.
That’s coming from someone who understands that Corman made a lot of crap, and someone who prefers Mike to Joel. But Rifftrax and MST3K are two very different beasts. There wasn’t a single derogatory comment directed at “This Island Earth” that it didn’t earn, but the MST3K take is far heavier on the fun jokes than bitter sarcasm. Once I saw enough RTs to understand that Mike’s recurrent theme was “this movie is crap and everyone involved with it is a FOOL!!!,” I dropped Rifftrax like a used diaper.
I’ve said it before; Mike refuses to acknowledge the inherent difference between LSOH and some bloated, multi-million-dollar obscenity like “Battlefield Earth.” LSOH was made for no money, in no time, yet remains a cult favorite over decades. Not everything Corman was involved with was utter garbage, and I really feel sorry for poor schlubs who, like Mike, can’t figure that out because they’re too busy screeching and flinging their poop.
I actually agree with Mr. Mavis on this one–I’ve got the single-riffer, Legend Films version instead of the one he watched, but it struck me as very much an off day for Mike when he riffed it. I don’t think LSoH is “hilarious” (although it’s not without its charms), but it is a comedy, and it’s just plain harder to riff comedies than dramas. A bad horror movie can be unintentionally funny; a bad comedy is never unintentionally scary. A good part of the comedy of riffing is finding ways to point out the unintentional humor already present in the film.
So no hard feelings on my part, but I would suggest tracking down “Night of the Living Dead” or “House On Haunted Hill”; if the three-riffer versions of those are as good as the single-riffer versions, Mr. Mavis might very well find something to enjoy there.
(I still love the Wisconsin gags in “Night”…)
This is the only legend three riffer version I have not watched yet. I know this one was not as well received as most of the others for many of the reasons already mentioned. I would second the recommendation for the three riffer ‘Night of the Living Dead.’ It was my favorite of the Legend three riffer trax.
This is not the film to watch if you want to get a feel for overall Rifftrax quality. See the riffs of Star wars: A new Hope, Ocean’s 11, or NOTLD. I saw this one too and it was one of their less funny riffs.
I’ve always been a big fan of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (the original and the musical), but I wasn’t bothered by the Mike Nelson commentary or the new Rifftrax-commentary version. I don’t think I’d be bothered if they even riffed really (technically) good movies I love, Rifftrax is covering all sorts of ground MST3k/CT couldn’t cover, whether it comes out funny or worthwhile will certainly vary.
Legend Films DVD of LSoH is the most pristine high-quality transfer of that movie ever released on home video (I skipped the colorized version on the disc, and only listened to a few minutes of Mike’s commentary, which I didn’t find that funny). So (at least the original DVD) it is worth picking up for fans of the film.
Paul’s ok in my book being a MSTie and all. Plus being from Michigan I too love Sir Graves Ghastly the Ghoul and Monster week on the 4:00 movie (really brings me back to my childhood). I do like the Rifftrax I’ve seen, and ordered some of these(not LSOH because I didn’t enjoy the un riffed version)Can’t wait for Shorts 2 and Reefer Madness.
I think it’s a good, well-explained review, and pretty much sums up how I feel about a lot of Rifftrax lately.
Having said that, re-watching “Little Shops of Horrors” recently made me realize that it’s not nearly as funny as I remembered.
It’s a long shot but I’ve been dying to ask… Is Paul Mavis related in any way to Mavis Beacon?
That was a good review in my book. He outlined why he didn’t like the Rifftrax, and honestly if the primary goal of the DVD is to make you laugh – and it didn’t, well then I say that it shouldn’t get a passing grade.
And as he pointed out, humor is subjective. There a ton of people who love the MST3K presentation of “Monster A Go-go”, but I think it’s one of the weakest ones they did, and my wife has never seen the whole thing, she falls asleep every time.
I enjoy Rifftrax, but I have noticed that the riffing tends to be more aggressive and mean spirited. Sometimes I’m in the mood for that, and sometimes it fits the film they are attacking. The Rifftrax for “The Happening” is hilarious and that movie deserved it. Other times, it just doesn’t click. The Rifftrax for “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” should have been a classic Rifftrax, but they kept going for the “Harrison Ford is old” jokes and it just wasn’t that funny. More often then not, I enjoy thier work, and we all need a laugh these days.
What I’ve noticed with the 3 riffer versions is that they say the exact same thing that Mike says when he did them by himself.They can’t come up with new material?? I think the best riffing they do are with the Shorts..
Little Shop of Horrors is my least favorite 3-man Rifftrax. It hardly made me laugh at all. I love all the other recent classic releases however. Night of the Living Dead Rifftrax is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
I watched Little Shop for the first time after reading this thread. Its been on my pile of stuff to catch up on.
Personally I’d give this one a very solid average rating. It was by no means a classic but I liked it better than Paul Mavis.
Plus I’ve always found Roger Coreman as incredible riffing material.
By the way, who was singing the RiffTone song on this DVD?
#27:
I haven’t seen all the Legend films titles yet. From what I have seen I’d agree there has been a ton of repeated material from the solo Mike to the three riffer. In one case I was please with the improvement: House on Haunted Hill. My perception was it was 50% – 60% recycled. But it just worked better with multiple people playing off each other. But on the other side of the coin I hated the three riffer of Missle to the Moon. Now there never was a Mike solo of this one. I am a Fred Willard fan. So I didn’t appreciate his lines reassigned to someone else. I just love his delivery and even hearing others I love (Bill and Kevin) re-deliver these lines was a let down.
“I really don’t think you can usually expect someone who loves roger corman to enjoy anything MST3K related.”
That statement is absolutely wrong.
I wrote Paul Mavis an e-mail (Hey Paul!) letting him know that I disagreed with him that LSOH is a funny movie. I’ve just always thought that the performances are far too broad and irritating and the jokes just lay there like smashed eggs on the kitchen floor. So my only criticism of the review is that it’s hard to relate to if you don’t agree with the fundamental premise that LSOH is a “hilarious” film. Aside from that, to each his own. I don’t take it personally if someone gives Mike and the guys a bad review.