Soap Stars in Other Places: "Delirious"

Earlier this week, I saw the soap opera themed movie, "Delirious" for the first time. Below I write about my thoughts about the flick.

Delirious was a 1991 vehicle starring the late John Candy as a New York City based soap opera head writer. named Jack He goes to the studio, and somehow is transported to Ashford Falls the universe of the soap "Beyond Our Dreams". Emma Samms (known to "General Hospital" fans as Holly obviously) plays the bad girl in this, Rachel was her character's name within the soap world, but Laura was the actress character name. John Candy's character loves as a writer, but as the story goes on he realizes she isn't as good as he thinks. Mariel Hemingway is in the other major female role, she plays another actress named Louise, whose character in town named Janet, which was to have been brought in, but then deemed too boring for a soap opera. Jack didn't understand why she was there, and we found out that the character studied ants in Africa. Jack's real life issues were broken equipment, and producers who were unhappy with his writing and waning stunts.

There are a lot of comedy stars in this, but while the movie isn't serious, it isn't as broad as it could be. I do think there was a missed opportunity when they cast David Rasche and didn't name his character Wes, as that was his role on "Ryan's Hope".

I'd prefer not to spoil everything, but suffice to say, the movie was humorous, but not laugh out loud hilarious. While there were some soap opera features that were parodied, like the recast, a guy with a patch, stunt-casting, and amnesia, it didn't feel mean-spirited.

Depending on what one likes, it may be a fun view. If you are looking for something modern then it isn't modern enough, as Jack still uses a typewriter to do scripts. This is part of the comedy, also John Candy is obviously not the so-called traditional leading man in the romantic way, which I wonder is supposed to be funny, though he doesn't play the role as if he is trying to be one, which is good.