Taking Over the Asylum: The Nutt House (1992)

Its pedigree alone is the stuff cult films are made of. However, as Dave explains, this dismal comedy is farcical for all the wrong reasons…

On paper, almost every facet of THE NUTT HOUSE should equate to comedy gold.

In reality, it’s like a bucket of rust.

Director Scott Spiegel was fired after only a few weeks, and by the time the picture had got to the editing room, all four of its screenwriters – Spiegel, Bruce Campbell, and Ivan and Sam Raimi – had disowned the movie. Meanwhile, when it went to Cannes, the German financiers weren’t able to get the film through customs in time for screening, but decided to go ahead with the after party anyway.

Nobody came.

All such jaw-dropping details are spilt and expanded upon in an engrossing interview with the film’s star, Stephen Kearney, who divulges the whole gory story to Another Film Nerd [1]. Born in Australia, Kearney started in stand-up as part of a double act called Los Trios Ringbarkus. Reaching America in the mid-‘80s thanks to a blossoming friendship with Eric Bogosian, the duo generated enough of a reputation that Kearney found himself auditioning for the lead role in The Nutt House. Jim Carrey had been first choice, but baulking at his request of a $1million salary, the producers opted for the decidedly cheaper man from Oz.

Cast as identical twins Philbert and Nathan, Kearney’s gruesome twosome are a burden on their mother, so she separates them by sending Nathan – the bad seed – to an insane asylum where he develops multiple personalities. Good guy Philbert gradually evolves into a well-to-do senator with presidential ambitions. However, when Nathan escapes from the facility and makes a beeline for his brothers palatial residence, the stage becomes set for comedic hijinks of wildly inconsistent proportions.

It would be unfair to drag The Nutt House screaming into the stocks without praising a handful of things. Kearney is certainly one of those – and although most of the slapstick bombs with ferocity, the antipodean’s physicality deserves fulsome plaudits. So too does Greg Nicotero. The F/X wizard was faced with a barrage of complex make-up quips that never let up throughout the film’s duration and the artistry at play really does dazzle.

Most of the upheaval on the set came during a brief pause in production following an elbow injury to Kearney. By the time shooting resumed a week later, he rocked back up to find Spiegel sacked and replaced with The Dark Backward (1991) director Adam Rifkin – with whom he really didn’t see eye to eye. In a bizarre twist, Kearney seemed to have earned the respect of esteemed British producer David Korda, so despite (according to Kearney) Rifkin’s intentions to replace the Aussie comic, he remained in situ.

Incidentally, it got worse for Rifkin as well. In post, the consensus from the suits was that Rifkin’s spin on the film didn’t cut it. Out of desperation to get the whole shebang in the (and to) can(nes), it was left to Kearney, who was given all the raw footage and a weekend to see what he could come up with. Roping in his flatmate – a certain screenwriter by the name of Larry Karaszewski – they cobbled together a version that seemed to impress those that mattered, leaving the stand-up from down under suddenly overseeing the completion of the $10million movie that he happened to be debuting in.

As for the rest of the film itself, elements of The Nutt House had me yearning for simpler times when I could throw on a double-bill of Niko Mastorakis comedies to quench my desire to experience the nadir of chuckle-free features from the early ‘90s. Still, I did feel a pang of appreciation for its Gatling gun delivery of gags. Many fail, but the realisation that some comedy managed to find its way out of this unholy mess is cause for muted celebration.

Left to gather dust for nearly four years before being unleashed on unsuspecting American video stores in July 1995, it was the success of – ironically – a triple-header of Jim Carrey movies in the form of The Mask (1994), Ace Ventura (1994), and Dumb and Dumber (1994) that seemed to convince distributor Triboro that the public were ready to handle this level of stoopid. The fact that it’s barely been seen on any other format since VHS suggests otherwise.

Began and also known as ‘The Nutty Nut’.

USA ● 1992 ● Comedy ● 94mins

Stephen Kearney, Amy Yasbeck, Robert Trebor, Stella Stevens, Traci Lords ● Dir. Adam Rifkin, Scott Spiegel (uncredited) ● Wri. Scott Spiegel (as ‘Alan Smithee Jr.’), Bruce Campbell (as ‘Alan Smithee Sr.’), and Ivan Raimi & Sam Raimi (as ‘R.O.C. Sandstorm’)