So if we get rid of Ruth, we'll be Ruthless?

Well, I've watched a movie.  I do that once in a while.  I think I've actually been doing it more in the last year or so although that's still not very many at all.  I haven't even seen anything from Avengers lately and that was most of what I did watch.

Anyway, Ruthless People was a fun movie in the mid-80s by the Zucker Brothers.  It had an actual plot and characters so it wasn't like the movies they're mostly known for, probably why it's been forgotten now.  I hadn't seen it in ages but for some reason I decided I must see it again so there it is.

Danny DeVito is an obnoxious rich guy who plans to murder his really-horrible wife, Bette Midler, only to find out she's been kidnapped by a goofy couple, Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater, who think he had cheated them in business.  The characters are all pretty believable just because they're so unlikable, but that's probably what inspired the title.  They aren't that deep but the actors do a good job fleshing them out and the plot is quite straightforward.  The ending falls a bit flat but there wasn't anywhere else to go.

I did like how there were bits of clever camera angles.  One thing I've been noting is how much movies are just really really expanded use of the comics medium and it's nice to see some of that although it's obviously way more difficult and time-consuming than an artist just sitting down and drawing that, then moving on.

I do have to wonder if there was some part of this trying to push through in the 80s, in pop culture if nothing else.  Mick Jagger performed the title track as he was trying to get away from the Rolling Stones, the Zucker Brothers were halfway between Airplane and The Naked Gun and this seems very time-specific even as there's a sense of timelessness about it.  Billy Joel threw in his "Modern Woman" song for the other biggest song on the soundtrack and an unseen/uncredited Phil Hartman was heard twice as a news caster.  Was this a specific attempt at something - which I'm starting to assume Hollywood does - or just throwing in more of their overall plans which they probably do anyway?

I am pondering movies a lot these days, probably why I'm watching (slightly) more than I have in the last few decades.