No Couch Trip

Doctor Detroit was on TV so I thought I'd check it out.  I hadn't seen it since it was released, and I wondered if it could be as bad as I remembered.  It was.  Dan Aykroyd is a born character actor and has always had trouble carrying anything alone.

The plot is about a straitlaced professor of literature who gets involved with a bunch of prostitutes (one played by future wife Donna Dixon). Their pimp, on the run, convinces Aykroyd to take over.  He goes on to defeat the pimp's main enemy, Mom.  The trouble is nothing in the film makes sense.  There's no reason for him to get involved in the first place and once he does there's no reason for him to succeed.

I suppose I could forgive all this it there were some funny scenes, but the stuff we're supposed to laugh at--mostly Aykroyd's characterizations--aren't much.  The music isn't bad, particularly the theme by Devo and an appearance by James Brown, but it's not enough to make you forget the story.

The film flopped.  Aykroyd made some big hits around this time, such as Trading Places and Ghostbusters.  Try to imagine the former without Eddie Murphy, or the latter without Bill Murray.  They'd still be better than Doctor Detroit.