Going Overboard
1989 film by Valerie Breiman
Going Overboard is a 1989 American comedy film written and directed by Valerie Breiman, and starring Adam Sandler in his film debut, Burt Young, Allen Covert, Billy Zane, Terry Moore, Milton Berle, and Billy Bob Thornton in a small role. It was released on October 27, 1989. The film was also released by Vidmark Entertainment in 1995. Sandler would later have a breakout role for the film Billy Madison after working on Saturday Night Live.
01Plot
Shecky Moskowitz is a struggling comedian working on a cruise ship. Shecky gets his chance to be the ship's comedian when it is thought that the regular insult comedian, Dickie Diamond, had fallen overboard and drowned. (Dickie actually locked himself in the men's room.) Shecky is nervous about performing, but King Neptune convinces him to go for the opportunity by telling Shecky about the power of laughter. Shecky's first performance is very unsuccessful as he is booed off the stage, he is especially heckled by the construction worker Dave. However, after a lecture by Milton Berle, Shecky succeeds in making the audience laugh. At that point, two terrorists sent by General Noriega come on board and want to kill Miss Australia after she insulted him. Shecky, remembering the advice about the power of laughter, saves her by promising to put the assassins in a film. Dickie pleads to God for mercy and the men's room door is unlocked; he quickly blasphemes as an insult to God and returns to his performance, but the people no longer like him. The film ends with everyone dancing and Noriega setting off a bomb.
02Cast
- Adam Sandler as Shecky Moskowitz
- Tom Hodges as Bob
- Lisa Collins as Ellen
- Scott LaRose as Dickie Diamond
- Burt Young as General Noriega
- Adam Rifkin as Croaker / Miss Spain
- Peter Berg as Mort Ginsberg
- Ricky Paull Goldin as Achmed
- Warren Selko as Ekebem
- Allen Covert as The Bartender
- Billy Zane as King Neptune
- Terry Moore as Mistress
- Milton Berle as himself
- Billy Bob Thornton as Dave
- Steven Brill as Priest
- Gabe Sachs as Funeral Moaner
03Production
A week before filming began, 22-year-old Adam Sandler was cast in Going Overboard after some crew members saw him performing comedy at The Improv in Los Angeles. After a show, they approached him and offered him the role outright.
04Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has three (previously four) reviews listed, all of which are negative.
David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews gave it zero out of four, and called it "...a slapdash and thoroughly amateurish piece of work that suffers from a total dearth of positive attributes." J.R. Taylor of Entertainment Weekly gave it a grade D.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Going Overboard”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Goingoverboard.gif by Unknown author, Fair use
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