Disorderlies Review

MPAA Rating: PG
Released: 1987

Disorderlies was the first and only film that capitalized on the exploding popularity of the 80's rap group The Fat Boys, and while it was clear these rappers were not accomplished movie stars, the film did serve to be a bit more than a simple vanity project. What the Fat Boys lacked in acting chops they made up for in goofy charisma as they played the roles of three incompetent orderlies hired to watch over a dying millionaire.

Winslow Lowry (Anthony Geary) is in a bit of a bind. You see, he's a gambler that found himself on the wrong side of the dice, and to make matters worse he's deeply in debt to Luis Montana (Marco Rodriguez), a vicious gangster that fronted him the money for his gambling habit. Now Montana wants it back, and there's only one way Lowry can possibly "earn" enough money to pay off his debts: his uncle's inheritance.

The problem is his uncle, Albert Dennison (Ralph Bellamy), is stubbornly clinging to life thanks to the efforts of his highly paid orderlies and caretakers. In a stroke of questionable genius, Lowry decides he'll help his frail uncle pass into the great beyond by firing the existing staff and replacing them with the most incompetent orderlies - or disorderlies as the case may be – he can find.

That's where Markie (Mark Morales), Buffy (Darren Robinson) and Kool (Damon Wimbley) come in. These three food-obsessed bumbling morons currently work for a nursing home with the dubious "honor" as being the worst run nursing home in the country, thanks in no small part to the trio's antics. If they're not horrifying the nursing home residents with wheelchair races, they're having food fights in the kitchen. Needless to say these three rejects are exactly what Lowry needs, so when they are fired from the nursing home Lowry swoops in and offers them a job to take care of his uncle.

While the three "disorderlies" are anything but responsible, somehow through their bumbling they actually lend Albert a zest for life that he's been missing. Rather than sit in his wheelchair waiting to die, Albert suddenly enjoys life and parties with the boys at dance clubs, etc.

This of course is entirely unacceptable to Lowry, who has Montana breathing down his neck more than ever. So while Markie, Buffy and Kool have a grand old time with their elderly charge, Lowry and Montana strike up an unholy alliance to steal the family fortune, remove Albert from the picture and frame the incompetent orderlies for the criminal acts.

From the opening minutes of Disorderlies it's clear that director Michael Schultz was attempting to make the Fat Boys a modern-day Three Stooges. Markie, Buffy and Kool have a very similar demeanor and relationship, so you can expect a good deal of silly infighting and slapfests throughout the movie. Does this inspiration help? Hard for me to personally say since I wasn't all that crazy about the Three Stooges type humor to begin with, but I guess I'd have to admit that the Fat Boys matched their inspiration pretty accurately.

Disorderlies is a fairly clean-cut film that is suitable for the family, but too much of the humor is juvenile in nature. Now don't get me wrong – I'm by no means a highbrow critic that can't appreciate good juvenile humor from time to time. I absolutely love mindless comedies like Airplane! But sometimes a movie can be hilariously juvenile, while other times it can be simply juvenile. Disorderlies struck me as the latter, though children would very likely be more amused at the silly slapping and antics than I was.

All in all Disorderlies is not a bad film, thanks largely to the gleeful charisma exhibited by Markie, Buffy and Kool. But given the quality actors, zany premise and high potential this movie possessed, it was disappointing that Disorderlies didn't rise above being an average comedy.

Movie rating: 5 stars

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