Before the UK cinema release of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (which I remember, as I was one of the 4 people that saw it), nobody had heard of its star Andrew Dice Clay. And after the release, even less people had.

Back then, the world was a much bigger place, so Clay wasn’t notorious outside the US, and nobody even knew that Ford made a Fairlane car. His particular brand of comedy was never one that was likely to translate well, which seems odd now that UK comedy is probably more outrageous than its US counterpart.

So coming into the movie with no preconceptions… it’s a huge budget studio movie with a famous (more or less) director in Renny Harlin, who gamely turns up to do commentary on the DVD. Half the jokes fall flat, there are many cameo appearances from people unknown outside the US (then and now – just what is the function of Wayne Newton?) but there are also lots of funny moments, and Ed O’Neill is terrific as always as the singing cop on Fairlane’s case.

So is it offensive? Well, it’s hard to take Clay seriously, he just seems like a loudmouth comic, and you suspect that he’d be delighted if anyone was genuinely offended.

(Next month I hope to be reviewing another Andrew Dice Clay movie called No Contest, which has to be seen to be believed)

Mild Peril Rating:

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