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Some actors/comedians are funny just because of the things they say and do, while others take things to a new level that tends to shock and amaze people into loving them or thinking they’re psychotic. Howie Mandel is one of the latter since his style of comedy has at times gotten so crazy that people simply don’t know what to think except to laugh and call his material inspired. This hasn’t always worked for him however since he was expelled from school once for impersonating a school official and authorizing a new addition to the school. You can imagine what kind of trouble that might have caused for him up until he started becoming famous. Throughout his movie career though he’s managed to retain much of that same persona and at times seems as though he might be going a bit too far, while at others it seems as though he’s right where he needs to be.
Here are a few of his best movies.
5. Walk like a Man
When Bobo is left by his jealous older brother to die in the Alaskan wilderness he’s raised by wolves and as a result he takes on their characteristics and never learns what it’s like to be human. When he’s brought back to civilization however this causes a great deal of problems since he has an inheritance that his older brother, who squandered his own inheritance, desperately wants in order to pay off a slew of debts. As Bobo begins to learn what it’s like to act like a human he finally begins to understand the concepts that he never had to learn and refuses to sign over his inheritance.
4. 7 Days In Hell
Tennis movies are usually those that inject themselves with humor now and again but are typically quite serious when it really comes down to it. In this movie however there’s not a lot to be taken serious since the whole idea is that it’s going over the top and is never coming back. When Williams and Poole continue to match one another and refuse to back down throughout one match after another it becomes a point of wondering WHEN the whole thing is going to end, not IF. This kind of movie is something that you might think would have a serious moment here and there, but it’s just not to be.
3. A Fine Mess
When one man overhears two thugs doping a horse so that it has a better chance of winning he gets found out and has to go on the run. Taking his best friend with him the two then have to outrun the thugs and the cops after it’s found that the doped horse ended up dying. As buddy films go this was pretty amusing not only because it was during the rise of both actors and featured them in amusing and engaging roles, but because it’s an older comedy so there was no real need to water it down with anything but more comedy as the movie went on. There were serious moments of course, but otherwise it was hilarious.
2. Gremlins
Howie Mandel had one of the easiest parts in this movie since he played the voice of Gizmo, which also became one of the most loved parts since the character became the face of the movie for the most part. A lot of people would be hard-pressed to remember even half the names of the human characters in the movie, but if asked about the one character that started it all and basically came to personify the film they’d spout ‘Gizmo’ without any hesitation. He didn’t even have to say that much and he was the favorite since a lot of people thought he was cute and cuddly. It kind of makes you wonder what Gizmo would be like a Gremlin.
1. Little Monsters
How many of us went to bed thinking that we needed to check for monsters when we were younger? This takes that idea and puts a whole new spin on it since not only are the monsters under the bed, but the floor beneath the bed opens up into a different dimension where the monsters aren’t just real, they’re in control. Such an idea might terrify some people, but when Brian follows Maurice into the underworld where the monsters dominate he finds that it’s not only fun, it’s more than he bargained for. Despite the chaos and the fun that’s to be had, there’s also the danger that comes from the reality that the dimension is run by two of the biggest, nastiest monsters that no one in this realm will willingly cross, and of course the realization that the longer he stays, the more likely it is that he’ll become a monster as well.
Howie Mandel is funny in a very different kind of way.
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