The Dark Backward
“It's the world inside out.”
Certified Crap. CrapScore 64, rated by 1 admin.
Higher CrapScores mean more entertainingly bad. How we score movies.
A failed comedian grows a third arm and suddenly becomes marketable. Adam Rifkin places his grotesque show-business fable in a grimy alternate world where the advertising is nearly as disturbing as the people. Deliberate discomfort and bodily absurdity make this a specialist midnight pick.
Nominated by @flabbergasted_jones
The club’s verdict
- Acting
- 4.5/10
- Plot
- 9/10
- Effects
- 4.5/10
- Dialogue
- 7/10
- Rewatchability
- 7/10
“The talent scout finally finds a selling point attached to the comedian.”
@flabbergasted_jones, scored it 64
Synopsis and movie facts
A man pursues stand-up comedy encouraged by his fellow garbage man. Though his friend, who accompanies him on accordion, continues to tell him how great he is, he actually stinks. When the "comedian" grows a third arm out of his back, the friend uses this twist to get him signed up with a sleazy talent agent, and it begins to look like his career is on the move, even though his girlfriend has left him.
- Released
- 1991
- Directed by
- Adam Rifkin
- Running time
- 101 min
Starring
- Judd Nelson as Marty Malt
- Bill Paxton as Gus
- Wayne Newton as Jackie Chrome
- Lara Flynn Boyle as Rosarita
- James Caan as Dr. Scurvy
- Rob Lowe as Dirk Delta
- Claudia Christian as Kitty
- Billy Bob Thornton as Patron at Sloppy's
Research behind this pick
Researched . Explore the film references and reviews below.
- Film reference · themoviedb.org
Canonical film identity, release date, runtime, director credits, cast, genres, synopsis and poster checked against TMDB movie 69342.
- Review · moriareviews.com
The review describes the failed comedy act, third-arm premise and surreal corporate world surrounding it.
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