Leofwine_draca Steve Martin was certainly a quirky presence in 1980s Hollywood cinema and he was an integral part of some of my favourite movies, with PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES a strong contender for my favourite comedy of the decade. In THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS, he re-teams with THE JERK director Carl Reiner for a typically madcap story about an eminent brain surgeon who falls in love with a black widow.This is a joke-a-minute type of story that goes for broad laughs over realism. Martin is having a ball with his crazy character and his sheer energy is enough to win the viewer over from the very first scene. I've never been a fan of Kathleen Turner and she plays to type here as an ice-cold sociopathic character and when the two come together the sparks really fly.I enjoyed the bizarre aspects of the film and the references to previous 'disembodied brain' B-movies. Sissy Spacek's role is warm-hearted and thoroughly unique which comes as a real surprise. David Warner is full of quirkiness as the mad scientist type and the film's increasingly outlandish antics see things end on a real madcap high. While THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS isn't my favourite of Martin's comedies, it's certainly a memorable, high-energy watch.

mark.waltz A delicious black comedy along the lines of "Death Becomes Her", this practically forgotten Steve Martin farce is now going on to my list of one of the best comedies of the 1980s, as well as one of the best comedies you've probably never heard of. Steve Martin plays a widowed doctor who specializes in brain surgery and all of a sudden becomes enamored of the gorgeous Kathleen Turner who has just managed in a hysterical opening sequence to knock off her wealthy older husband. Spoofing her role in "Body Heat", Turner is deliciously evil, and seems to be have a wonderful time in playing this part. Martin, of course, does his usual schtick, but mixing science fiction elements with a spoof of film noir which he had already done recently with "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", he finds true love with a seemingly still living brain, voiced by none other than recent Oscar winner Sissy Spacek.A film clip of the 1953 science fiction film "Donovan's Brain" cast up his interest in experimenting, and features then first lady Nancy Davis Reagan in the archive clip. Verbal and visual sight gags a la "Airplane!" make this worth seeing over and over again.Among the visual highlights is Martin's checking out of a castle like house he wants to purchase, complete with laboratory and Turner's determination to get rid of anybody whom she can inherit money from. Her obvious plans of seducing the handsome Hispanic gardener is also very funny. Some surprise cameos along the way add to the hysterical moments that are frequent and sometimes pass by too fast to catch up on simply one viewing. Veteran director Carl Reiner practically outdoes himself in the delightful way he takes preposterous situations and makes them laugh out loud funny. I could not have seen this in the theater, because I think I would have been choking on my popcorn or spitting my soda at the unfortunate person in front of me. It is that funny. I won't spoil all the delightful things that occur by saying more, but being available on the Warner Brothers Archive Collection, this was more fun than I expected it to be, although I will give credit to the delightfully annoying voiced prostitutes who Martin encounters during his journey. By the time she came along, I was laughing so hard that I was actually crying.

Phil Hubbs Easily the best collaboration between Martin and Reiner in their long movie errm...collaborations. Its Martin's second zany wacky off the wall movie after 'The Jerk' which wasn't as madcap as this. In this work of genius Martin is set free to basically come up with as much lunacy as he possibly can and boy does he.The plot is somewhat sensible I guess, a brain surgeon falls for the sexy Kathleen Turner only to eventually discover she is a gold digger and doesn't give a damn about anyone really. In the mean time Martin falls in love with a disembodied brain (in a jar) and decides to try and rescue it with a new fresh sexy body.The whole idea is basically a B-movie homage to various ridiculous horror concepts and at the same time an influence for many future raunchy trashy 80's teen comedies, it serves dual purpose. Its not exactly a full spoof but it comes close at times, its just an insane comedy with surreal touches of outlandish humour that borders on spoof.Most of the funny moments tend to be sexual innuendo or sight gags, some childish some clever and witty, whilst others are clearly in there just for the hell of it, probably created on the spot. Take Martin's character name for instance...'Dr Hfuhruhurr', we here Martin say his name properly right at the start but from then on almost everybody pronounces it differently as they struggle to say it, most just give up. This is such a stupid gag ,its infantile, but it works so brilliantly every time yet you don't really know why. You know its stupid but seeing all the various characters pronounce it so randomly is just so fudging funny. The joke is even extended to a few other characters also, you'd think it would get old but it still manages to make you smile.What hit me was how old the film looked, it was released in 83 but it looks like a 70's flick to me. Everything really looks so dated nowadays but I think some of it is deliberate, made to look cheap like an old fashioned mad scientist movie. Naturally the fake castle laboratory within the apartment (nice switch) is the cheesy stereotypical mad scientist vibe for this kind of thing. I like how they include that simply for that reason and actually say that in the film hehe could almost be a Leslie Nielsen vehicle.Its also easy to forget how hot Turner was back in the day, she smoulders here as the evil temptress or black widow. I also like the various bits of ass on display too (yeah sue me). I do recall watching this as a kid and thinking it was a dirty film, to a kid the material shown is quite kinky and revealing for sure, the dialog is also pretty smutty and only now as an adult do I appreciate it, much like all the humour.This has to be Martin's best film or close to, its such a shame he never really did anymore off the wall flicks like this. There is so much that works here, so many little gags and visual nuggets that are admittedly so daft (the very quick human pinball scene) you just can't help but like it (unless you dislike Steve Martin's style of course). Its rude crazy and predictable (with a brief bit of in your face racism!) but for me its probably one of the best comedies made.'The only time we doctors should accept death is when it's caused by our own incompetence'10/10

David Klecker ...Steve Martin's physical humor was the talk of the town. In his early years he was featured on the Sonny and Cher Comedy hour, the Ken Barry Show and the Smothers Brothers Show as a regular. He turned up frequently as host on Saturday Night Live, in every case showcasing his peculiar brand of off-the-wall physical humor and jester-esque feats. The Jerk can probably be considered his first real movie as a vehicle to his humor which is often seen as the first of his classics-trio with Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid second and The Man with Two Brains his third. Although I consider The Jerk to be the best of the trio, The Man with Two Brains is certainly a close second. The cast is brilliant with a sexy yet villainous wife played by Kathleen Turner, one year before her landmark role as the eccentric romance novelist Joan Wilder. David Warner fresh from Tron and Time Bandits who probably has the largest resume of movies and TV spots I have seen yet. Unless you lived under a rock and never turned on your TV during the 80's and 90's you've seen David Warner is some fashion... anyways where am I? oh... he also manages to keep up with the non-stop antics playing a brilliant yet mad scientist who has discovered a way to keep brains alive. Carl Reiner and Steve Martin twist another crazy tale together to showcases the unique humor of Martin. It's not the best Steve Martin has done, nor is it hilarious through and through, it's mostly a hit and miss spoof, The Man With Two Brains is certainly recommended for old time fans of Steve Martin before he traded in his physical humor for more straight-forward gags.