Mr Birdman's Movie Reviews · Joshua Birdwell

Beetlejuice

·21 min

Mr. Birdman opens with Beetlejuice, the 1988 comedy about a dead married couple trying to get their house back. He runs through the cast, names Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Jeffrey Jones, and Catherine O'Hara, and then spends time on Tim Burton's early career, including his Disney animation work and his short Fractured. The film started elsewhere. Mr. Birdman says the script was first pitched at Universal, rejected there, then sold to Warner Bros., and he notes that the original version was much darker than the movie audiences ended up with. Danny Elfman's score gets a mention. Mr. Birdman treats the opening music as part of what makes the movie work, and he keeps circling back to the practical effects, which he says still hold up better than a lot of later CGI-heavy stuff. Keaton is the main event. Mr. Birdman says Michael Keaton filmed for about two weeks and improvised nearly all of his dialogue, and he leans hard into how absurdly good Keaton is at turning Beetlejuice into a total menace. The whole thing gets even funnier when the host reaches the tree-model bit. He points out that 'nice fucking model' was not in the script, which he uses as another example of Keaton stealing the movie. The Maitlands eventually decide Beetlejuice is too gross to trust. Mr. Birdman follows that choice into the dinner-party possession scene, where the Dietzes get hit with 'Day-O' and the movie turns the table into one of its best jokes. Otho gets a little memorial detour. While talking through that sequence, Mr. Birdman notes Glenn Shadix's death in 2010 and mentions that Shadix asked for 'Day-O' to be played at his funeral, which he takes as a nice sign of how much the movie meant to him. Beetlejuice crashes back in as a snake. From there, Mr. Birdman moves through the handbook for the recently deceased, Juno's office, and the way the story keeps nudging the Maitlands out of control every time they think they have a handle on things. The Dietz house angle matters too. He says Mr. Dietz seems to be some kind of realtor or land developer, even if the movie never comes right out and says it, and he likes the way that detail makes the haunted-house angle feel like more than just a gag. Lydia gets her own dark turn. Mr. Birdman follows the scene that looks like a suicide note, then closes by arguing that Beetlejuice still holds up, still feels funny and well shot, and is absolutely worth revisiting on Hulu if someone has not seen it in a while.

As heard by us

A warm, unrushed look at Beetlejuice that stays focused on the cast, effects, and lasting appeal.

Mr. Birdman's take on Beetlejuice is upbeat and clear-eyed, with most of the attention on what has always made the film work: the cast, Tim Burton's direction, the practical effects, and its strange, playful humor.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want a laid-back Beetlejuice rewatch with real production trivia and a lot of practical-effects affection, press play.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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