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The Man With Two Brains

Play trailer Poster for The Man With Two Brains R,  1983,  1h 33m,  Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 79% 24 Reviews Tomatometer 64% 25,000+ Ratings Popcornmeter
79% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 64% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
When brilliant brain surgeon Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr (Steve Martin) accidentally hits gold-digger Dolores Benedict (Kathleen Turner) with his car, he takes it upon himself to save her life using his own surgical technique. The two are soon married, but no sooner are the rings on their fingers than the marriage begins to fall apart. While honeymooning in Vienna, Hfuhruhurr is introduced to reclusive scientist Dr. Alfred Necessiter (David Warner), who practices some rather unorthodox procedures.
The Man With Two Brains

What to Know

Critics Consensus

As spastically uneven as its zany title suggests, The Man with Two Brains isn't peak Steve Martin -- but it's still often close enough to enjoy.

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Critics Reviews

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Pauline Kael The New Yorker Sep 13, 2023
Martin makes old routines work by letting us know that they’re old and then doing them immaculately. Go to Full Review
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Oct 23, 2004
2/4
This is not a great comedy but it has scenes that don't know that. Go to Full Review
Nell Minow Movie Mom Jun 19, 2003
5/5
Martin's best comedy. Go to Full Review
John Ferguson Radio Times Aug 17, 2024
5/5
A dazzlingly inventive comedy that contains more laughs than his last half-dozen movies put together. Go to Full Review
Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand Dec 17, 2022
... this comedy drops the wild and crazy humor of Martin’s standup comedy act in a spoof of old Hollywood science fiction films (from Frankenstein” to Donovan’s Brain), femme fatale melodramas, and impossible love stories. Go to Full Review
Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Oct 11, 2021
3/4
Steve Martin plays Dr. Hfuhruhurr, Kathleen Turner spoofs her star-making Body Heat role, and the Elevator Killer turns out to be the last person you would suspect. And so it goes in this zany comedy. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Feb 1, 2019 The best comedy movie ever made!
Anakin W Jan 29, 2017 Ridiculously funny with black comedy intertwined with satirical sketches reminiscent of Airplane!.
Albus G Feb 9, 2014 Easily the best collaboration between Martin and Reiner in their long movie errm...collaborations. Its Martin's second zany wacky off the wall movie after 'The Jerk' which wasn't as madcap as this. In this work of genius Martin is set free to basically come up with as much lunacy as he possibly can and boy does he. The plot is somewhat sensible I guess, a brain surgeon falls for the sexy Kathleen Turner only to eventually discover she is a gold digger and doesn't give a shit about anyone really. In the mean time Martin falls in love with a disembodied brain (in a jar) and decides to try and rescue it with a new fresh sexy body. The whole idea is basically a B-movie homage to various ridiculous horror concepts and at the same time an influence for many future raunchy trashy 80's teen comedies, it serves dual purpose. Its not exactly a full spoof but it comes close at times, its just an insane comedy with surreal touches of outlandish humour that borders on spoof. Most of the funny moments tend to be sexual innuendo or sight gags, some childish some clever and witty, whilst others are clearly in there just for the hell of it, probably created on the spot. Take Martin's character name for instance...Dr Hfuhruhurr, we here Martin say his name properly right at the start but from then on almost everybody pronounces it differently as they struggle to say it, most just give up. This is such a stupid gag ,its infantile, but it works so brilliantly every time yet you don't really know why. You know its stupid but seeing all the various characters pronounce it so randomly is just so fudging funny. The joke is even extended to a few other characters also, you'd think it would get old but it still manages to make you smile. What hit me was how old the film looked, it was released in 83 but it looks like a 70's flick to me. Everything really looks so dated nowadays but I think some of it is deliberate, made to look cheap like an old fashioned mad scientist movie. Naturally the fake castle laboratory within the apartment (nice switch) is the cheesy stereotypical mad scientist vibe for this kind of thing. I like how they include that simply for that reason and actually say that in the film hehe could almost be a Leslie Nielsen vehicle. Its also easy to forget how hot Turner was back in the day, she smoulders here as the evil temptress or black widow. I also like the various bits of ass on display too (yeah sue me). I do recall watching this as a kid and thinking it was a dirty film, to a kid the material shown is quite kinky and revealing for sure, the dialog is also pretty smutty and only now as an adult do I appreciate it, much like all the humour. This has to be Martin's best film or close to, its such a shame he never really did anymore off the wall flicks like this. There is so much that works here, so many little gags and visual nuggets that are admittedly so daft (the very quick human pinball scene) you just can't help but like it (unless you dislike Steve Martin's style of course). Its rude crazy and predictable (with a brief bit of in your face racism!) but for me its probably one of the best comedies made. 'The only time we doctors should accept death is when it's caused by our own incompetence' See more
Harry L Jan 7, 2014 The Man with Two Brains is a prime example of what's wrong with comedy films today. Back when both comedy and Steve Martin were still funny, he would pump out one satisfying comedy film after another. Sure they weren't always perfect, but they were a hell of a lot more satisfying than the ADD-riddled gross-out comedies being made today. There are things like jokes, with setups and payoffs. Remember those? Anyways, the story concerns a successful brain surgeon who marries an evil woman who won't have sex with him. It seems like there is no hope until he meets a fellow brain doctor who has been doing some experiments on several different brains. One of the brains begins to talk to Martin and he falls in love with it, and the comedy ensues. This is a fun movie that holds up really well and was finally released to Blu-ray recently. See more
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The Man With Two Brains

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Movie Info

Synopsis When brilliant brain surgeon Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr (Steve Martin) accidentally hits gold-digger Dolores Benedict (Kathleen Turner) with his car, he takes it upon himself to save her life using his own surgical technique. The two are soon married, but no sooner are the rings on their fingers than the marriage begins to fall apart. While honeymooning in Vienna, Hfuhruhurr is introduced to reclusive scientist Dr. Alfred Necessiter (David Warner), who practices some rather unorthodox procedures.
Director
Carl Reiner
Producer
William E. McEuen
Screenwriter
George Gipe, Steve Martin
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co
Aspen Film Society
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 18, 1983, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
May 1, 2008
Runtime
1h 33m
Sound Mix
Stereo
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