If anything, at least you can tell the people behind the joke-a-minute comedy Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again knew what kind of movie they were making. Not only did they proclaim that the author of the source material, in this case Robert Louis Stevenson, would be turning in his grave, they went right ahead and showed him doing exactly that in the final moments of the film. What's sad about that, though, is it might just be the funniest thing on display here.

We know what we're up for when the opening credits are snorted like a line of cocaine. Ahh, the 80's and their excess! The location is the "Our Lady of Pain and Suffering" hospital where we meet brilliant surgeon Jekyll (comedian Mark Blankfield), who wants to give up brain surgery in order to research a cure-all drug - a drug that just so happens to resemble a certain white powder. Upon accidentally snorting some while sleeping, Jekyll is turned into an Afro sporting, crazy-haired, and moustached party animal called Hyde - Hell, he even has a long fingernail on one hand to snort with!

On one of his late night transformed outings, Hyde meets up with punker girl Ivy (Krista Erickson) and they fool around. Upon walking up in her bed, Jekyll is quite mortified and sets out to try and keep the animal inside him in check while screenwriting committee Monica Johnson, Harvey Miller, Jerry Belson, and Michael Leeson throw jokes at the screen with the same ferocity as 1980's Airplane! hoping that more will stick, rather than flop.

This is the kind of comedy that isn't afraid to over-do it trying to win some "yucks" from its viewers, as there's tons of broad slapstick, sexual innuendos galore, and dumb drug humour. During the movies eighty-seven-minutes, we're subjected to (mostly) groanable gags about a suicidal mouse, lawn jockeys, people slipping on human organs in an operating room, and the "sixty dollars and my wedding ring" moment involving a huge erection and a nurse (played by "Elvira" herself, Cassandra Peterson). There's just so many of them that when the finale arrives with its stand-up act and musical number you'll feel more worn down from the whole rankness of it all than actually laughing.

In the lead role, Blankfield (who would go on to a career of bit roles in various sitcoms and star in the best forgotten TV-made sequel to The Jerk) suffers early on from monotone line delivery and a decided lack of comedic timing but I will grudgingly admit that as the movie wore on he actually grew into his role as the manic Hyde - a character that reminded me a lot of Dan Akyroyd's alter-ego in the 1982 flick, Doctor Detroit, for some odd reason. Erickson is pretty cute in her role (and gets to fake perform a pretty decent punk song called "Light Up My Body" - which she actually sang for the soundtrack), favourite character actor Tim Thomerson is fairly underused as Jekyll's best friend, and keep an eye open for the recognizable Lin Shaye (Kingpin, Dumb & Dumber) in an early, small role as the telegram nurse.

This marked one of director Jerry Belson's few turns behind the camera as he's most famous for writing Smokey And The Bandit and the Steven Spielberg helmed romantic comedy, Always. Co-writer Harvey Miller would go on to write and direct another medical themed comedy with the 1985 Steve Guttenberg starring, Bad Medicine (and well as write the awful second Cannonball Run movie after this), while fellow scripter Leeson would pen War Of The Roses and have a twenty-nine episode run on popular sitcom, "The Cosby Show" - this only goes to prove that the people behind such a stinker as Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again actually have some skill at being amusing, they just don't really show it here. (Chris Hartley, 8/17/08)

Directed By: Jerry Belson.
Written By: Monica Johnson, Harvey Miller, Jerry Belson, Michael Leeson.

Starring: Mark Blankfield, Bess Armstrong, Tim Thomerson, Krista Erickson.

Picture Ratio: 1.77:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: While the transfer here is littered with specks at first, the picture gets better as it goes along and is another solid representation of Paramount's back catalogue from Legend Films.

Extras: As with most of these re-issues from Legend, there's nothing but the movie and menus. Which is fine since a lot of these titles wouldn't come out on DVD otherwise.

Visit Legend Films for more info.