IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

One of the most notorious flops of the 1990s started because Hollywood’s hottest director liked a low-rated sitcom.  As a fan of the unapologetically offbeat TV comedy, Get A Life, which starred Chris Elliott as an emotionally-stunted, thirty year-old paperboy living with his parents, director Tim Burton, fresh off Batman Returns, invited comedian Elliott and series co-creator Adam Resnick to a meeting to discuss potentially teaming on a film project.  Knowing Burton’s love of fantasy, Resnick and Elliott concocted Cabin Boy, a seafaring story that was part take-off on Captains Courageous and part Ray Harryhausen-style, creature-filled, mythical adventure.  Burton loved the idea and agreed to direct, but he eventually backed out of the project (apart from a producer credit) when he was offered the opportunity to direct the screenplay of Ed Wood.

With Burton’s exit, Resnick and Elliott were stuck with a vehicle that they weren’t passionate about, as they wrote the script more to Burton’s sensibilities than their own; and Resnick was pressured into directing the movie himself, despite having no previous big screen experience.  The resulting film was a flop and a major setback in the careers of Elliott and Resnick.  I remember finding the movie pretty disappointing myself during its original theatrical release (and I was another loyal viewer of Get a Life).  However, over the years, Cabin Boy’s bizarro charms have won me over, and the movie has developed a bit of a cult following.

Chris Elliott stars as Nathaniel Mayweather, a spoiled, snobbish, belligerent “fancy lad” that has just completed finishing school.  Nathaniel’s father (the woefully underused Bob Elliott) books the new graduate a passage to Hawaii on the luxury ship, The Queen Catherine, but The fancy lad boards a dilapidated fishing boat, The Filthy Whore, by mistake.  When Nathaniel changes the course of The Filthy Whore in hopes of pointing it towards Hawaii, he inadvertantly lands the vessel and its crew (Ritch Brinkley, James Gammon, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Brion James) in Hell’s Bucket, an unpredictable realm of gods and monsters.  Through a life-changing adventure involving a monkey salesman, a shark-man, a giant, a multi-limbed sex surrogate, sleep swimming, and clean pipes, the cabin boy grows into a cabin man.

When watching Cabin Boy (1994), it is hard not to think of what might have been.  With Tim Burton at the helm, the film may have been a more cartoonish romp with higher production values; or if Burton had never had any involvement, Resnick and Elliott might have developed a screenplay that was more in their comfort zone.  Also, had Resnick been more experienced, he might have fought against some of the cuts that the film underwent, due to studio pressure, after a disasterous test screening.  My biggest disappointment is that the single scene that Chris shared with his father (the great Bob Elliott) was almost totally excised from the film. Being that the interplay between Chris and his real-life dad was one of the main joys of Get a Life, it is a shame that more of their shared screen time did not make the final cut.

Still, there are joys to be had in Cabin Boy.  Elliott gives a fearlessly unlikeable performance in the lead, and the supporting performances are all solid.  Especially good are David Letterman as a sarcastic villager and a then-unknown Andy Richter as the empty-headed cabin boy of The Filthy Whore, whom Elliott eventually replaces.  There are some decent laughs mixed in with the merely baffling moments; and the whole low-rent, thrown-together feel of the picture lends a certain offbeat charm.

Cabin Boy is an acquired taste, and admittedly, it took me a while to acquire that taste myself.  Still, once you find yourself on the same wavelength with the film, you’ll likely want to revisit it from time to time.

US/C-80m./Dir: Adam Resnick/Wr: Adam Resnick and  Chris Elliott (uncredited)/Cast: Chris Elliott, Ritch Brinkley, James Gammon, Brian Doyle-Murray, Brion James, Melora Walters, Andy Richter, Russ Tamblyn, Ann Magnuson, Mike Starr, Bob Elliott, Ricki Lake, David Letterman

For Fans of: If you liked Chris Elliott’s surreal appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, you may enjoy Elliott’s big screen adventure as well.

Video: If you love this film, then the new Cabin Boy [Blu-ray] from Kino Lorber Studio Classics is an essential purchase.  The film hasn’t looked this good since it was originally released to theaters.  The image is sharp, bright, and very colorful, and the lossless audio sounds as good as the somewhat unremarkable sound mix will ever sound.  Best yet, Kino has done fans of the film a great service by packing this release with extras, which is fairly unusual for a Studio Classics title.  Elliott and Resnick are very candid in the commentary and interviews about the difficulties of making the film and shortcomings in the finished product.  Special features include:

• New Audio Commentary by star Chris Elliott and director Adam Resnick, moderated by writer Mike Sacks
• New Interview with star Chris Elliott and director Adam Resnick (45:50)
• Limited Edition booklet essay by film critic Nick Pinkerton
• Archival cast interviews featuring Chris Elliott, Ritch Brinkley, James Gammon, Brian Doyle-Murray, Brion James, Melora Walters and Russ Tamblyn (8:13)
• Audition Tapes: Melora Walters and Andy Richter (5:41)
• B-Roll Footage (5:58)
• Edited outtakes (6:29)
• Newly commissioned art by Jacob Phillips
• 5 TV spots (3:04)
• Limited Edition O-Card
• Reversible Art
• Theatrical Trailer (1:45)

Streaming: At the time of this review, Cabin Boy was streaming on HBO Now.  It can also be rented or purchased digitally on other platforms.

More to Explore: Prior to co-creating Cabin Boy, Elliott and Resnick produced 35 episodes of television, over two short seasons on Fox.  They have been collected in the DVD box set, Get A Life: The Complete Series. If you like Cabin Boy‘s off-kilter humor, you’ll love Get a Life.

Trivia: The reception to Cabin Boy was so disasterous that Chris Elliott and Adam Resnick have avoided working together since (even though they have remained friends).

For More Info: The new Blu-ray from Kino Lorber does an excellent job of covering the production all on its own.