Mel Brooks has a unique and smart style of comedy , that I love. Though most fans will consider, he's done better stuff (look at the hits in his wake) this manages to be quite an evocative piece of very entertaining cinema. It has a moral I liked, that really hit home, where by the end, he's done a 180, turning into a wonderful human being. After 28 years since release, through a sordid interest, of being such a standalone film, which is how I've always thought of it. I finally sat down, to watch this, and could of kicked myself, for not seeing it earlier. There's quite a few inventively funny moments, that catch you off guard, Brooks has really got a wit, and you'll see this from the inventively funny start. Making a bet with another scoundrelous money hungry rival/mogul, that he can last thirty days as a bum in this derelict sh**ty of LA, where if he wins, this whole small zone will be Mel's new futuristic jaw dropping estate development. Corporate tycoon, he plays- Goddard Bolt (the original name I absolutely love) he rudely finds, first hand, what living on the street is really about, and this film realistically shows what it's like to be penny skint, homeless, nothing. This was something I also, was really impressed, despite some far fetched gags, I really loved. But hey, that's Mel Brooks. Brookes is suited (double meaning) for this role, and Lesley Ann Warren, is still gorgeous, no matter what state, or attire, she's in, and she really gives such a great endearing performance, the capable actress she is. The second half, that's goes a little off the radar, can be forgiven, for the heavy moral which upstages it. A small appearance by Billy Barty is even smaller form, towards the end, just compliments it more. This is a wonderfully different comedy, that I liked a lot, though no Blazing Saddles, or To Be Or Not To Be, this movie favorably treads a different path, and it's a path I liked, with some such heartwarming and cheering moments, yet one much tragic, forseen moment too. This is a movie I'm really glad I've watched, and so will you be, who haven't seen it. It gives new meaning to the term slapstick, and inspired a identical farewell moment in the cult hit The Big Lebowski 7 years later.

By the 1990s, Mel Brooks was one of the undisputed kings of parody. His unabashedly tasteless comedies poked fun at almost every topic and genre. So it was no doubt a surprise when he released a movie that was an original story and not a spoof. I once found an entry for "Life Stinks" in a film encyclopedia, and the description began "So does the film." I will say that it's no "Blazing Saddles", "Young Frankenstein" or "Spaceballs", but it has its moments (and it does draw attention to homelessness). We could be cynical and say that what it depicts would never happen in real life, but would ANY of Mel Brooks's movies happen in real life?

So even if we understand that it's probably his lowest movie, we can still enjoy it. It turns out that Theodore Wilson (Fumes) died of a stroke around the time of the movie's release. Damn.

I have done quite a few reviews on IMDb and this film is unique in that I never saw the entire movie. It was so terribly stupid and unfunny that I just couldn't sit through it--though I tried.

The biggest problem with this and any Mel Brooks movie I call "the Mel quotient". In other words, the better his movie, the less of him you see in the film. Think about it--The Producers and Young Frankenstein were great films and he was barely in them at all. BUT, films like Life Stinks and Space Balls are chock full of Mel and are pretty dopey movies (yes, I DID NOT LIKE Space Balls--but this isn't the place to talk about that).

Second, apart from cancer, rectal itch and mental retardation, I can't think of a less funny topic than homelessness. This is just a comedy breaker. Think about it, folks. The FUNNIEST(?) scene in the movie has Mel making whoopee with Leslie Ann Warren in a dumpster!! And this is funny in what way?