Capsule Reviews: <i>Eating Raoul</i>

Capsule Reviews: Eating Raoul

A new feature that aims to provide brief—roughly 300 words, give or take—quick-hit movie reviews for the masses.

One of the most hilariously vicious satires ever made, Paul Bartel's subversive masterpiece Eating Raoul (1982) hasn't lost any of its bite (sorry) over the years. The film's delicious evisceration of consumer culture, Hollywood, the swingers fad, and so much more, made it a cult sensation among left-of-center cinephiles almost immediately upon release.

A wonderfully impassive Bartel and frequent collaborator and cult legend Mary Woronov are the appropriately named Paul and Mary Bland, a puritanical couple disgusted with societal vice who just want to be left alone by all those damn swingers and just make enough money to buy their dream restaurant. What follows is a series of financial-related setbacks, many of which involve cartoonishly horny men throwing themselves all over a disgusted Mary, until finally an accidental murder sets them on the path to financial solvency.

Soon enough, and with help from enterprising burglar Raoul Mendoza (Robert Beltran), the couple is luring rich perverts to their apartment, where Mary, role-playing the client's preferred fetishistic desires (her Minnie Mouse outfit is a comedic highlight) distracts them so meek Paul can sneak up from behind and bonk them over the head with a cast-iron pan, killing them instantly. As Mary notes, “Do you realize we have made almost a thousand dollars in two days, tax free?” To which Paul deadpans, “Just by...killing people.”

Of Woronov's performance, House of Self-Indulgence once wrote, "Giving what I consider to be one of the leggiest performances in cinematic history, Mary Woronov wields her extra leggy gams like they were a pair of deadly weapons" and rarely have truer words been written. Her gift for physical comedy is on full display. She and Bartel share an unlikely but undeniable comedic chemistry. They're an absolute riot together. Watching them and the equally outrageous oddball supporting players bumble their way through this hysterical black comedy is never anything less than exquisitely enjoyable. Simply put, Eating Raoul is cult film royalty.

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Paul SApril 4, 2019 at 9:27 AM
Another enjoyable review, Eating Raoul sounds like a hoot. Capsule reviews sound like a good idea. I'll be over to read them as and when you post even if I'm not the commenter I used to be. I do honestly enjoy everything you write. Sometimes I think about responding or even begin to and then talk myself out of it. Mainly because I don't think I've got anything interesting to say. Nevertheless, I do stop by here most days and dip into your posts, if that helps.
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