I want to start this review by clearing the air about The ‘Burbs’s ending.To the extent that there is any ongoing discussion about a 33 year-old film, much of it is centered around the film’s final ten minutes.
In case that opening paragraph wasn’t enough warning, let me make it clear: I’m about to spoil what happens at the end of The ‘Burbs. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend you do so. It’s really damn good, and a lot of the pleasure is the way the anarchic rhythm and timbre of the comedy ratchets so steadily you don’t notice any individual increments, but you sure as hell know you’re watching a different movie than fifteen minutes ago.
Alright, so, the ending. The subject of the neighborhood’s investigation is, as suspected by the characters, a serial killer, not just an introverted weirdo. A more conventional ending would have Tom Hanks and his crew become the bad guys, hoisted on their own paranoia and nosiness. Here, their fear is validated. Almost everyone I’ve talked to seems to hate this ending, but I don’t.
This is not a bad twist, unless you equate “messy” or “challenging” with “bad.” And even if it’s a misguided finale, the ending is certainly not a movie-torpedoing catastrophe, a claim I’ve heard repeated more than once. The twist cuts against the grain of the satire built by the film, but doesn’t tear it into shreds. Everything leading to those last ten minutes was already self-evidently and hysterically a crowbar to the shins of middle-class close-mindedness. Missing that little bow at the end doesn’t negate the entire movie leading up to it.
I can certainly see that hitting the nail on the “tolerate others, lest ye become the monsters” theme would have made a tighter story, but I enjoy Joe Dante instead leaning into the “fuck it, we’re all crazy” vibes. It matches the film’s heightened reality and Looney Tunes spirit, the suppressed anarchy in supposedly dull suburbia.
Beyond even its satirical elements, The ‘Burbs shines as a sitcom episode constructed and shot like a horror-comedy. 85% of the movie is a domestic comedy of misunderstandings and bad judgement, but in Dante’s expert hands, it always bubbles tension and unease. The suburban hijinks set against the arch horror texture make for terrific and bracing contrast. Danny Elfman’s slightly campy score adds a lot of flavor, too, creepy splashes of music jolting the film to life. Dante is tremendous at carefully modulating the film’s energy so its genre touches and comic mania never overtake its sense of place or humanity, but it also never lets you relax. The houses are shot like Gothic mansions, elevating the sense of an upended or sinister domestic order, making plenty of space for visual jokes like ratty wigs and piles of trash.
Of course, having Tom Hanks in the lead helps. Hanks is just about perfect in the role. Though he never quite captures the Tim Allen every-dad persona he’s written with in the opening minutes, he certainly grounds the character and has both the comic skills and the acting chops necessary to make a believable descent to wacky hysteria. His singed march out of a recently-exploded house near the finale is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in months, not just because of Hanks’ shell-shocked expression and gait (though they are great), but because it’s a payoff on 90 minutes of his great work teetering at the edge of sanity as buildup.
I quite like most of the acting, actually. There’s such an oddball set of energies to the cast: Bruce Dern is hilarious as the gung-ho Nam vet, and Corey Feldman is a pitch-perfect snotty teen slash Greek chorus. Carrie Fisher is solid as the level-headed wife, but not given nearly enough to do beyond nagging. The biggest disappointment — and it’s a doozy — is Rick Ducommun as Art, who I find shrill and unfunny. One friend of mine observed that Art’s character seems like it was written for Hanks’s semi-frequent collaborator John Candy, and it kind of ruined the movie for me imagining how much better The ‘Burbs would be with Candy in the role.
Nonetheless, The ‘Burbs thrives. It careens. It sparks and ignites. It is damn close to a masterpiece, perhaps Hanks’ funniest performance and funniest movie, and just so watchable and tonally daring.
- Review Series: Tom Hanks
Is It Good?
Exceptionally Good (7/8)
Dan is the founder and head critic of The Goods. Follow Dan on Letterboxd. Join the Discord for updates and discussion.