Doctor Detroit (1983)

What happened to doctor Detroit 2 the wrath of mom?

Clifford Skridlow (Dan Aykroyd) is a geeky weird professor at a small Chicago college. Smooth Walker (Howard Hesseman) is a pimp who owes money to mob boss Mom. Diavolo Washington is his driver. He has a scheme using his girls (Donna Dixon, Lydia Lei, Fran Drescher, and Lynn Whitfield) to trick a sucker. After a night of hard partying, Clifford is pushed into playing the girls' new crazy pimp Doctor Detroit. Meanwhile, Smooth skips town pretending that a new pimp has muscled him out. Cifford struggles to maintain his straight life while living his wild pimp life.The problem with Clifford is that I don't find him lovable. He starts with such a weird oddball introduction. For some reason, I find Clifford off-putting. On the other hand, I don't mind the outrageous Doctor Detroit. The movie is generally stupid and silly without being funny. Aykroyd is also on his own comedically in this one and he's not doing so well.

Okay, the characters are lively and likable, but the story is cartoon-like, so simplified that it is totally forgettable. One positive is the sharp editing, that keeps things moving along. Negatives would be the lack of enough laughs to recommend second viewings, and cartoon-like goings on that are seriously squirm inducing. "Doctor Detroit" comes across as a not fully developed "Saturday Night Live" skit. While the characters are certainly colorful, there is no real bite to the story. Fran Drescher and Howard Hessman try their stereotyped best, while Dan Aykroyd cavorts about trying to hold things together, but to no avail. Stick with "Trading Places" and avoid the comedic letdown of "Doctor Detroit". - MERK

What is so special about this movie, and makes worth repeated viewings are the story's development and the execution of the acting performances. The comedy is always spot on, and the casting is perfect. It also has an intelligent story line which you lightly can see how it relates to the teachings in the class room scenes. The parody of capture regarding the tenured faculty members of the college is perfect especially at one meeting where one is most concerned if there will be a fruit cup served at the event. There are no weak performances in this movie, everyone is right for the part and they deliver! Anything more would be considered a spoiler, so I highly recommend you watch this movie and just enjoy it. The best way to see it is to not learn anything more about it than I have just wrote.