Drop Dead Fred

1991

Action / Comedy / Drama / Fantasy

26
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 77% · 36 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 77% · 100K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.0/10 10 33511 33.5K

imaginary friend sentimental hilarious

Plot summary

An unhappy housewife gets a lift from the return of her imaginary childhood friend, Drop Dead Fred.

Director

Ate de Jong Photo
Ate de Jong

Top cast

Cathy Lind Hayes Photo
Cathy Lind Hayes as Ms. Fuzzock
Peter Breitmayer Photo
Peter Breitmayer as Go to Hell Herman
Phoebe Cates Photo
Phoebe Cates as Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Cronin
Daniel Gerroll Photo
Daniel Gerroll as Nigel Cronin
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
857.65 MB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 43 min
Seeds 8
1.6 GB
1920*1024
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 43 min
Seeds 27

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by CleverTitania 7 / 10

Sweet Fantasy with a Beautiful Ending

I originally saw this in my late teens. A few years ago, it started getting good play on cable, and I rediscovered this treasure.I won't rehash the plot (you can read that on the main page), but the premise has a real interesting idea. What surprised me most by the other comments were things about Elizabeth's emotional state? She's not nuts, and she's not delusional. Just because her mother mistakes Fred for a psychological problem doesn't mean she's right. That's the whole point. While we might have some questions in the beginning, by the end it's quite clear that Fred is real. This is a fantasy after all.Elizabeth is such a sweet child, it's just such a shame her father never gets a backbone to stand up to her mother. That's the one thing I didn't like about the story. It would seem her father simply abandoned them, which you simply wouldn't believe based on the sweet caring man they depict him to be. I've always adored Marsha Mason, and it was hard to see her as such a cold manipulative woman. You can see underneath, at least at the end, that she has her own issues that cause her to treat her daughter as an adversary. But it's hard to forgive.Ryk Mayall is hilarious! He's an absolute gem, and I really wish we would see him in more mainstream movies so I could view his talent without video hunting. He is brilliant in the physical comedy, and a riot even when his jokes aren't all that funny. He also shows some really tender moments. He reminds you a touch of a teacher who really loves a student with emotionally inept parents. He's supposed to be showing her what's wrong with her life, making her wake up to the shell of a person she's become, but you can see what he really wants to do is hold her, kiss the top of her head, and tell her it'll all be alright and that (at least) he loves her.Phoebe Cates turns in one of her best performances (second only to Shag). She plays the vulnerable young woman, who's been cowed by her mother and squashed by her husband, with realism and depth. You can understand her attachment to her philandering spouse (cleverly portrayed by Tim Matheson) when you recognize that she just desperately wants to be loved by someone. But after being; abandoned by her father (and seemingly Fred), emotionally battered by her mother, and losing her only other real friend (Ron Eldard is really charming in this bit) as a child; who wouldn't cling to any shred of love they can get?While this movie is so funny and energetic, it's at the end it really pays off for the grown ups. Elizabeth comes to terms with the fact that her husband really doesn't care, that she can live her life without the approval or permission of her mother, and that she'll never really be happy until she regains the inner child her mother stole from her. The fantasy scene where Fred helps her step back and face all this is really interesting, I particularly LOVE the metaphor of unwrapping the young Elizabeth from the bed where she's trapped by the same masking tape her mother used to lock Fred in the Jack-in-the-Box. The final moment of Fred's departure, with a warm kiss and hug, is heartbreaking but fitting. And closing the film with Fred continuing his efforts by befriending Mickey's daughter proves the whole point, that Fred is very real and that the imaginary friends in this story have a real purpose. They are there to help children in need in the only way kids really can be helped, with fun.
Reviewed by d_penn 7 / 10

Cobwebs

This movie is just... wow mixed with a dash of wobbly hand. I'm currently suffering from mental health problems, and this is both funny, creative, and helpful for those know need to understand that, they're not alone, and others know how you feel and can really help you feel like yourself.. A guilty pleasure... Not the greatest film out there but there are far worse... For every "Drop Dead Fred", there are at least a dozen "Jack and Jills"... it definitely went down as a classic. You got 90 mins I mean you make the best out of it for what it's worth.....the actor who portrayed DDF passed away so RIP my boi Fred.
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