Drop Dead Fred

1991 "Dishes. Relationships. Wind. This guy breaks everything."
5.9| 1h43m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 19 April 1991 Released
Producted By: New Line Cinema
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

When Elizabeth returns to her mother's home after her marriage breaks up, she recreates her imaginary childhood friend, Fred, to escape from the trauma of losing her husband and her job. In between the chaos and mayhem that Fred creates, Elizabeth attempts to win back her husband and return to normality.

Watch Online

Drop Dead Fred (1991) is now streaming with subscription on HBOmax

Director

Ate de Jong

Production Companies

New Line Cinema

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime.
Watch Now
Drop Dead Fred Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Drop Dead Fred Audience Reviews

Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
SunnyHello Nice effects though.
Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.
Eric Stevenson I am proud in a weird way to say that I've know seen all of Doug Walker's picks for the Top 3 worst movies he's ever reviewed. Well, he's probably changed it by now. I'd love to see an update! We all knew "The Garbage Pail Kids Movie" would be his #1 spot, but I was eager to see his #2 spot, which happens to be this film. A work friend of mine even said this was the first movie HE saw that he sincerely hated. It's just amazing how many little awful things there are in his movie. This movie tells the story of a woman and her imaginary friend, Drop Dead Fred.First off, the special effects are really stupid and annoying. There's about one good shot they put all their budget into. There's a running gag where she sneezes and Fred flies around in this stupid manner. The worst is probably how he calls her Snotface and she's actually inspired to put her boogers on other people's faces. It's as stupid as it sounds. Fred causes mayhem by walking in dog poop and getting the floor all dirty. Fred is unbelievably annoying and is relentlessly obnoxious when he first appears right on screen. Flashbacks show Fred teaching her as a little girl to rob her parents.Her dad gets arrested for something that wasn't his fault and we literally never hear of him again. Yes, Fred was supposed to bring balance to the woman's life but he got her dad arrested. This other guy walks on a tree because he knew she'd run out of her window, what? Every joke is predictable. We know that they're going to drop the teapot after they mention it's expensive. We know Fred will smash the window when he says he'll be careful. Apparently, Fred also knew that destroying her friend's (played by Carrie Fisher, RIP) home would make her live off the insurance. It's obnoxious, unfocused and all around stupid. *
M. Qtips (M_Qtips) The always appealing Phoebe Cates plays the central character in this classic horror movie about a dangerously psychotic woman who is tormented by the emergence of her sociopathic other personality, a criminally deranged and manipulative version of Johnny Rotten. Out of control, she destroys her relationships, her family life, and her friend's boat, until eventually, betrayed by her overbearing mother and her philandering husband, she retreats into the only safe place left, the dark and lonely recesses of her own mind, where she must confront ghastly visions of her loved ones and the terrified child she once was.Finally, even her hallucinatory tormentor abandons her, and she regains her sanity at cost of turning her back on everyone and everything she has ever held dear. She begins a new life with the only man who has ever been oblivious enough to stand by her... oblivious enough not to notice even as the first signs emerge that her psychosis has begun to infect his only child...A seminal film, this dark masterpiece was clearly the inspiration for later phantasmagoric horror excursions like "The Mask", in which Jim Carrey plays a man who undergoes a hideous mutation, and "Amelie", a similar tale of a young woman dangerously disassociated from reality.
Jason Kleeberg Drop Dead Fred (1991)Watching Drop Dead Fred as an adult is 100% different from watching Drop Dead Fred as a kid. Yes, I know that certain movies are like that - you'll pick up on jokes that you didn't get when you were eight years old...however, most don't give you an entirely different experience. If you haven't seen Drop Dead Fred, the basic synopsis is about a girl who goes to live with her (terrible) mother after she loses her car, her husband, and her job. As a kid, I remember cracking up at Fred's antics, flinging boogers at people and looking up the skirts of unsuspecting women. As an adult, this movie really ventures into dark territory. It's about a girl, verbally (and possibly physically) abused by her mother - so much so that her father ends up leaving. Finally an adult, she escapes the throngs of her household only to find herself completely co-dependent on men, and ends up in another abusive relationship - this time with an abusive husband. All the while, she conjures up an imaginary friend named Fred (who has a British accent, much like her father).Watching this as an adult, this movie has some heavy things going for it. Lizzy, the main character, definitely has issues upon issues. It's actually fun to see her transformation from co-dependent to independent. Fred's humor doesn't exactly do it for me anymore, but the scenes in which he's simply making Lizzy's body move are still hilarious (a standout scene in an Italian restaurant comes to mind). The acting is fairly pedestrian, the only real standout being Phoebe Cates as Lizzy. Since this, the director went back overseas and hasn't done any movies that I've heard of since then.Kids movies were definitely different back then. Watching this now, I can honestly say that I don't think this is a good movie for kids, but if you saw it when you were younger, it's definitely worth another exploration now.Final Score: 3/5
Uriah43 At the age of 5 "Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Cronin" (Phoebe Cates) was sad and lonely. So she developed an imaginary friend she called, "Drop Dead Fred" (Rik Mayall). But time passes and she eventually forgets about him. Until she loses her husband "Charles" (Tim Matheson), her job and her car all on the same day. She then becomes sad and lonely. And Drop Dead Fred reappears. Now, normally a friend who returns after so many years wouldn't be such a bad thing. But this isn't any "normal" friend. Instead he's an obnoxious and destructive influence who was always getting her into trouble. And while she may have grown up, he has not. Anyway, as far as this movie is concerned, I thought it got off to a rather rough start but things began to get really funny immediately after the "houseboat scene" when "Janie" (Carrie Fisher) tries to take matters into her own hands. Likewise, the restaurant scene was quite funny as well. Having said that though, there were other scenes which weren't nearly as good and this caused the movie to seem uneven. I thought Marsha Mason (as "Polly Cronin") looked great. But as far as the acting was concerned, other than Phoebe Cates and Carrie Fisher, I didn't really care for anybody else in the cast. And as far as that goes, Rik Mayall made me cringe every time he appeared as he was just too over-the-top. Even so, this wasn't a bad movie necessarily and it did have some good moments as I have already mentioned. That said, I have no doubts that some will really enjoy it. But to me it was only average.