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With: Tom Hanks, Tawny Kitaen, Adrian Zmed, George Grizzard, Barbara Stuart, Robert Prescott, William Tepper, Wendie Jo Sperber, Barry Diamond, Tracy Smith, Gary Grossman, Michael Dudikoff, Gerard Prendergast, Deborah Harmon, Kenneth Kimmins, Rosanne Katon, Christopher Morley, Brett Baxter Clark, Monique Gabrielle, Angela Aames, Hugh McPhillips
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Written by: Neal Israel, Pat Proft, based on a story by Bob Israel
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Directed by: Neal Israel
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MPAA Rating: R
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Running Time: 105
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Date: 06/29/1984
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Wed Reckoning
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
If any movie from the 1980s has aged poorly, it's Bachelor Party. The main premise has the hero, Rick (Tom Hanks), trying to avoid sex with other women during his bachelor party so that he remain be faithful to his bride-to-be, Debbie (Tawny Kitaen). Unfortunately, his married friends have absolutely no problem cheating on their spouses with prostitutes. And so it goes. It also has a shockingly questionable (quasi-racist?) portrayal of Japanese men, a trans woman, and others, just for the record. But the movie is just so raucous and likable that it's easy — especially if you're already familiar with it — to overlook its flaws. Hanks in particular plays one of those kooky guys who has the best possible comeback for every situation; you totally want to be his friend. (He's more fun here than he was in the same year's Splash.)
So school bus driver Rick is marrying Debbie, who is wealthy, and his friends throw him a party with "chicks and guns and fire trucks and hookers and drugs and booze." And then there's Cole, who is one of those sneering, 1980s villains with a sweater tied around his shoulders, who wants to break it up, and tries to sabotage the party. Meanwhile, Debbie and her friends try to infiltrate the party dressed as prostitutes! There's a chase and a showdown inside a movie theater, with pretty clever fight scenes mimicking the movies playing on the screens. "B" movie scream queen Monique Gabrielle has a famous, and extremely weird, topless scene. And Adrian Zmed, ahem, sings.
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