Directed by: Michael Pressman
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Howard Hesseman, Donna Dixon, TK Carter, George Furth, Fran Drescher, Lynn Whitfield, Kate Murtagh
The 13-year old me which first saw Doctor Detroit in a local theater in 1983 might have found the movie more amusing than the 47-year old me. The movie is sporadically funny, with Dan Aykroyd carrying the project with his own manic energy. Aykroyd is asked to carry a heavy load, and being the adept comic actor he is, he elevates the film to a near success. Doctor Detroit is a slight type of entertainment which isn't the worst waste of ninety minutes of your life. You watch it and then move on.
Aykroyd plays Clifford Skridlow, a meek college professor who, due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, crosses paths with a Chicago pimp (Hesseman) looking to escape his debt to a powerful local crime lord. The crime lord, in a nice touch, is Mom (Murtagh), who could win a Kate Smith lookalike contest, looks grandmotherly, but is ruthless while using her two bald sons as muscle. The pimp, Smooth, fakes a beating and invents a "partner" named Doctor Detroit, flees town, while leaving Clifford holding the bag with a stable of prostitutes and issues with Mom.
Clifford has enough problems of his own without the Doctor Detroit stuff, including the college where he works (and his father chancellors) teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and in need of a massive grant from a wealthy donor. Clifford invents the Doctor Detroit character complete with a metal fist which he uses to high-five people, in order to keep Mom at bay. I kept wondering if that hurt ever somebody's hand.
Through plot machinations, Clifford is forced to run between two different rooms at a swanky hotel portraying both himself and Doctor Detroit at something called "The Player's Ball", featuring none other than James Brown singing a song in tribute to Chicago's newest underworld sensation. Who finances this ball featuring pimps and hookers as guests? How much did James Brown charge to perform? Wasn't he the least bit concerned about his reputation? Considering his later run-ins with the law, probably not. This isn't the sort of movie in which you ask these questions, but I will so you won't have to.
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