I’m thankful for my brother, Jeremy, who’s a wizard of the streaming platforms. I’m what he’d call a Luddite, as I still collect DVDs. But he still insisted on hooking me up with the likes of Prime, Peacock, Hulu, etc. And since I had Wednesday, April 16 off and had finished all of my grading, I was feeling lazy and decided to flip around Prime. I had seen pictures of The Couch Trip, one of those movies I’d heard about and seen covers for in my many trips to the video store as a kid. So I turned it on. While the third act went off the rails and there were too many plot threads happening, I liked the pro-single twist the movie offered at the end (spoiler alert!). Very rare for an 80s flick.
Dan Aykroyd stars as John Burns, a patient at a mental health facility who seems to be more qualified than the doctors, particularly the nasty head psychiatrist, Dr. Baird. One day, while he’s in Baird’s office about to get sent to jail, he intercepts a call inviting Baird to be a temporary replacement for the prominent George Maitlin, who’s had a breakdown of sorts. So he impersonates Baird and flies out to Los Angeles, where he takes over Maitlin’s practice and radio show.
The plan is to hire Baird, who’s bad enough that he won’t outshine Maitlin. However, Burns proves to be more helpful than Maitlin could ever be, and hijinks ensue.
The pro-single themes:
The married Maitlin is shown to be a pompous jerk who cheated on his wife with a patient. His wife also cheats on him with Harvey, his lawyer and best friend. At the end, Maitlin ends up committed to an institution.
There is the requisite romantic subplot, as Burns hooks up with the radio show assistant, Dr. Rollins, played by Donna Dixon. Once she finds out Burns is Burns (not Maitlin), she dumps him. At the end, she does help him escape the law so he can flee to Mexico, but she doesn’t go through. Instead, he’s accompanied by Donald Becker, a homeless person who’s probably the “sanest” in the film. I was surprised and delighted by this twist.