10/10
Smashing, baby, yeah!
22 September 2001
The Diceman must rescue a supermodel, smash some brains along the way and ultimately save the entire world.

Sounds like a comic book, huh? Guess what, it's a lot funnier than it sounds. First of all, Andrew Dice Clay is no slouch when it comes to acting and brings his unmistakable style to any project he's in. Sometimes it's all in the delivery, and Dice wrote a book on that. Also, there's great chemistry between him and fellow co-star Teri Hatcher. This alone is enough to make this movie worth a look. But there's more...

The film's director Albert Pyun, who also wrote and produced it, brings a style and integrity often lacking in big Hollywood movies that are pulled apart by a dozen of writers, directors that are changed half-way through the shooting, and producers imposing crazy ideas on writers (let's not mention any names). Brain Smasher may not have the special effects of Armageddon and lead showers of Commando, but the comic book-like story flow is incredibly smooth and the acting will surprise you, considering the movie practically went straight to video, which to me doesn't make any sense. I mean, look at all the crap that is released on the big screen. The only logical explanation is that Hollywood put Andrew Dice Clay on their black list and won't give him a break.

Back to the story. The Diceman doesn't exactly play his on-stage persona here. (So if you're looking for off-color humor and women bashing, you won't find them here. Not a hue, not a slightest tint of the onstage bully we all admire. :-) It's more of a Stallone-type action hero. His name is Ed Molloy, professional bouncer. He's the best in the business, with lethal fists and Zen-like manners that have earned him the nickname Brainsmasher.

Teri Hatcher stars as Samantha Crain, international supermodel, whose botanist sister, played by Deborah Van Valkenburgh, finds a red lotus flower in the snows of Tibet and thus becomes the target of a gang of fanatical Chinese monks who think that this flower can give them the key to world domination. With me so far? Yuji Okumoto, who heads the gang of killer Ninjas (but don't you call them Ninjas or they'll break your nose!), has certain plans he hopes to realize with the help of the lotus flower, and must be stopped at all costs. This where the fun begins.

Running from killer Ninjas, the swashbuckling sisters decide to split. That's when Samantha runs into Ed. The bouncer and the model team up to stay alive. With little in common except being in this mess together and a growing mutual attraction, the romance sparks and spectacular street combat sequences provide the wall-to-wall action while the laughs keep flying! Like all great love-on-the-run movies it will leave you breathless as the unlikely superhero saves the world while he gets the girl -- and the laughs.

In short, Brain Smasher is the hippest action/comedy ever!
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