Film Review | Cabin Boy | From The Couch

Released: 1994
Starring: Chris Elliott, Ritch Brinkley, Brian Doyle-Murray, James Gammon, Brion James, Melora Walters, Jim Cummings
Director: Adam Resnick
Produced by: Touchstone Pictures, Tim Burton Productions
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Rated: PG-13 (UK – 12)

“He’s Setting Sail On The High Seas… Without A Rudder, A Compass, Or A Clue!”

Right off the bat, I am letting you know I did not enjoy this movie. I struggled to find anything I really liked about the film and beyond its star-filled cast, there really wasn’t much. It may be a comedy taste thing, and some of you may have this on your favorite comedy list, but you won’t find it on mine.

Nathaniel Mayweather (Chris Elliott; ) is a selfish, arrogant, and condescending young man. After he graduates from school, he jumps in a limo and travels to a ship that will take him home to Hawaii and his father and live the pampered and wealthy life he has been accustomed to. However, his obnoxious and demeaning personality leads him to mistakenly boarding the wrong ship. Stuck on a fishing boat with an angry and gruff crew, Nathaniel tries everything to have them drop him off at his original destination, but instead causes the boat to go off course and into the treacherous and strange Hell’s Bucket.

The plot of Cabin Boy brings to mind a similar film, Captains Courageous, which is a fantastic film about the development and growth of a pampered child. This film tries to substitute out a child for an adult, which in turn ostracizes the audience from the main character. You no longer can excuse his behavior based on his age. On top of that, there is the removal of a mentor character that helps Freddie Bartholomew’s Harvey Cheyne develop. Instead, Nathaniel literally only develops due to his naive interpretation of the events around him (and apparently because he has sex for the first time).

Unlike other simple comedy characters like Ernest P. Worrell, Nathaniel’s naivete does not make him more likable. He transitions from being outright mean as he belittles every person he meets to annoying while he thinks he has connected to the ship’s crew in some way. While I understand this is where the humor is supposed to come from, it falls flat. The rest of the crew are not much more endearing and I spent the rest of the film just hoping the boat would sink and the credits would roll. Even the addition of a female love interest for Nataniel just added another person on the boat that Nathaniel could annoy, who in turn became angry with Nathaniel, and who the ship’s crew could grumble about.

Cabin Boy is packed with a cast of comedians and character actors including Brian Doyle-Murray, Brion James, Mike Starr, David Letterman, Andy Richter, Chris Elliott, and James Gammon. You would think that with a cast like this that the film would at least be entertaining. However, the actors can’t save this ship from taking on water and sinking into the sea. With the exception of Andy Richter (who plays a mentally slow character) and David Letterman, everyone else’s performance is just good enough. The ship’s crew are interchangeable and the female love interest Trina, played by Melora Walters (Boogie Nights, The Master), delivers her lines with all the realism and commitment of a high school stage play. I don’t know if this is due to the script or direction of Adam Resnick, but I know these actors have given better performances in other films.

The effects and set design of Cabin Boy reflect a low budget production. When Nathaniel ends up in a cave at one point in the movie, it was very apparent that they were false and made of paint, wood, and foam/plaster. The ship on the ocean resembled more of a toy boat in a tub of water. The only scenes that had a realistic and solid look to them were the ones at the school and at Hawaii and were probably shot at scouted locations. When 80% of your film is on a boat, that is where your design should be strongest. As for effects, the most impressive thing was probably the half man – half shark character Chocki. The blend from his human half to his shark half was pretty smooth. Beyond that, the major effects use a combination of puppetry and animation that just reinforces the unreal feel of the scenes.

It is at this point, while I was writing this review, that I really focused on things about this movie that I found enjoyable. It was fun to point at the large number of character actors and recall other films that I enjoyed them from. Some of the situational comedy was amusing. Brion James had a good moment while fighting a snow monster. That is about it.

The version of Cabin Boy I watch was the 2002 Mill Creek DVD release of the film. It has no special features. It is just the movie. Picture and sound are on par with a quality DVD release. I have seen that the movie has been released on Blu-Ray and DVD by Kino Lorber with quite a very additions including an interview and audio commentary by Chris Elliott and director Adam Resnick, cast interviews, outtakes, TV spots, and a theatrical trailer. If you do want a copy of the movie, for the price I would go with the newer releases and be able to enjoy the extras.

Cabin Boy is not a film I see myself seeing again anytime soon. While I understand this is a guilty pleasure film for many, it will not fall into that category for me. The story is thin and the effects and sets are poor. The comedy is based almost entirely on the actors being annoying and causing the audience to cringe. If this kind of humor is your forte then you may enjoy Cabin Boy more than I did.