Meet the Applegates

R 5.5
1991 1 hr 30 min Fantasy , Horror , Comedy

Modelling themselves after an idyllic cookie-cutter suburban 1950s family, a colony of insects move from South America into the United States with the intent of getting access to the nation's nuclear resources.

  • Cast:
    Ed Begley Jr. , Stockard Channing , Dabney Coleman , Robert Jayne , Camille Cooper , Glenn Shadix , Susan Barnes

Reviews

Linbeymusol
1991/02/01

Wonderful character development!

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Maleeha Vincent
1991/02/02

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

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Isbel
1991/02/03

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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Scarlet
1991/02/04

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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Robert D. Ruplenas
1991/02/05

This flick is not available on Netflix nor on Amazon streaming, and I don't know why, because it is truly hilarious. The negative comments here are incomprehensible to me. The comic premise of giant bugs disguising themselves as humans is no more difficult to accept here than it was in "Men in Black," except this is a much better movie. The predictable left wing environmental theme is here, but is by no means overpowering enough to detract from the riotously funny look at middle class suburban life, with all its pretensions, facades, commercialism, and sexual foibles that this movie supplies. All the cast do their jobs wonderfully, Stockard Channing and Ed Begley Jr. in particular. Dabney Coleman does a great job in what could be called a cameo role. The script is just wonderful. I was able to catch this on one of the cable channels and I'm glad I was able to do so. It provided a wonderful hour and a half of comedic entertainment.

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itchyglobo2003
1991/02/06

I'm sick and tired of people ripping this movie apart. Who cares why there's a scorpion featured in the opening shot when the movie is about cockroaches.Beetlejuice opened with a spider and that's not the main character either. Yes,in this age of political correctness there are flaws.Is rape ever funny? Funny that foul language isn't mentioned yet,I guess nowadays it's too commonplace and nobody cares. Low budget special effects-check. Cheesy dialog-check. Nods to John Waters-I guess so. I think this movie entertains.It also offends from what I've read. Is it one of the worst ever made? Hardly. I can think of 50 films right now (recently released) that should be flushed down the toilet immediately.Hollywood excels at churning out bland,tasteless fodder for the mainstream masses. Stop taking it so seriously.It's meant to be a dark comedy and that's exactly what it is. Now where's the DVD?.

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LimoLassy
1991/02/07

This was a well put together movie. The bugs actually felt human. They acted as well as could be expected for a bug in human disguise.I wonder how hard it was to relate to a bug, as a human being... I loved the whole movie. And the moral at the end.!!!

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bob the moo
1991/02/08

Angered by a logging company encroaching deep into their natural forest, a family of large insects camouflage themselves as humans and blend themselves into a small American town. Dick gets a job with the nuclear power plant in order to sabotage it and wage war on the human population. However the family finds that their attempts to blend in are working a little too easy and they endanger their own mission. Despite being a little too gory for my tastes, this comedy is actually quite sharp in it's main satire on American life. The main joke for me was the way the family of bugs are sucked into the lifestyle of American mores – the mother gives in to commercialism, the son to drugs, the daughter to teenage sex and the father to adultery. It's comical to watch their descent and works pretty well. Where's it's all going is less clear and the message is not so clear in regards whether becoming `normal' is for the best or not. What is clear is the eco message which pokes fun at those who would make war on nature (whether bug or human) without respect for other life forms.For a 90 minute film it all works pretty well and is actually quite imaginative. The gore put me off a little, in the gore of the eggs and bugs generally and I would have preferred if they had just had the bugs without all the slime and stuff. The cast do a good job carrying the material – their performances generally help keep up the mood of weirdness! Begley Jnr and Channing are both good in the leads – each giving in to their human environment. The kids are OK but the best performance is an outrageous performance from Coleman as the queen of the species – complete with full drag and moustache!Overall this never quite delivers as many laughs as it's clever and funny pitch but it is still worth a watch. It has a surreal picture book image of `normal' America that it slowly explodes. For me, you could take or leave the eco message and still enjoy the film. Not great but different enough to be worth a try.

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