The explosive success of Saturday Night Live opened the
floodgates for comedy troupes whose material addressed hip themes, so
presumably that’s why a second-rate outfit called the Ace Trucking Company got
to make a feature-length anthology of gags loosely arranged around the premise
of a massive earthquake devastating Southern California. (Because, of course,
what’s funnier than a catastrophe that kills millions of people?) The running
gag in this painfully unfunny movie involves news coverage of how people have
responded to the disaster, so skits involve addled victims, loopy scientists,
and opportunistic entrepreneurs, among others. Yet at least half the picture
comprises scenes unrelated to the earthquake theme—it’s as if the Ace Trucking
Company cleared out its warehouse of sketches, whether they suited the
framework of the movie or not. Several comedians who’ve done better work elsewhere appear in Cracking Up, notably Edie
McClurg, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard, and the duo of Michael McKean and David
L. Lander—aka “Lenny and Squiggy” on TV’s Laverne & Shirley. (FYI, Lander, McKean, and Shearer were the late-’70s lineup of comedy troupe The Credibility Gap, so Cracking Up represents a convergence of two minor ensembles.)
Since there’s no story to critique, all that’s needed to give a sense of Cracking Up are descriptions of a few
gags. In one bit, Lander plays a moron delivering a PSA lamenting
discrimination against Polish-Americans; riffing on Smokey the Bear’s famous
line, he says, “Only you can prevent Polish people from catching on fire.” In
another bit, a man standing at a urinal drops a dime into a slot marked “Build
Your Ego,” and a window opens so McClurg (inexplicably dressed in a cowgirl
outfit and flailing six-guns) can compliment the size of the man’s penis.
“How’s that hammer hanging, baby?” Elsewhere, flamboyant funnyman Stephen
Stucker (later to play a super-gay air traffic controller in 1980’s Airplane!), does a queeny credit-card ad
for “GayAmericard.” And at one point, Shearer imitates Dan
Akyroyd’s famous Saturday Night Live
riff on’70s talk-show host Tom Snyder. Yawn. While Cracking Up has minor historical value as a showcase for emerging
talents, the flick registers 0.0 on the comedic Richter scale.
Cracking Up: LAME
