Movie Review: Modern Problems (1981)

★★★★★

Modern Problems is the kind of weird, offbeat comedy you don't see anymore. Chevy Chase is at his chaotic best, and the whole telekinesis angle is fun.

Nathan W.

Idaho

When most people think of Chevy Chase in the early ’80s, they think of Caddyshack or National Lampoon’s Vacation. But tucked away in that era of slapstick dominance is a strange little gem called Modern Problems, a movie that somehow mixes domestic comedy, mild science fiction, slapstick, and relationship drama… with a dash of telekinesis.

Directed by Ken Shapiro (best known for The Groove Tube), Modern Problems feels like one of those films you might stumble across late at night on cable and think, Did I dream that? But it’s very real, and it’s one of the oddest entries in Chevy Chase’s filmography.

Plot – From Traffic Jams to Telekinesis

Chase plays Max Fiedler, an air traffic controller in the middle of a personal meltdown. He’s overworked, his girlfriend Darcy (Patti D’Arbanville) has left him, and he’s teetering on the edge of burnout. Then one day, stuck in traffic, his car gets doused with radioactive waste (as it often happens in early ’80s comedies), and Max gains telekinetic powers.

Naturally, this doesn’t lead to world-saving heroics. Instead, Max uses his new abilities in petty, awkward, and hilariously inappropriate ways, from messing with rivals to exacting revenge on rude people.

What Most Reviews Skip Over

A lot of reviewers focus on the film’s wackier moments or its infamous behind-the-scenes troubles (including a near-fatal stunt accident for Chase), but Modern Problems actually has an interesting layer of character work beneath the slapstick.

Max isn’t just a goofball with powers; he’s a guy whose life is quietly falling apart. The powers become a metaphor for control, something he doesn’t have in his career or relationships, so he overcompensates by controlling everything (and everyone) else. It’s a surprisingly sharp throughline for a movie with a psychic nosebleed gag.

Chevy Chase in a Different Gear

Chase has always been great at playing the arrogant wisecracker, but here he’s playing someone more insecure and neurotic. His Max is still sarcastic, but there’s a vulnerability under the humor that makes the character more relatable.

And when it’s time for physical comedy, he delivers, whether it’s an exaggerated reaction to his powers or the slapstick chaos of the climactic dinner party.

The Supporting Cast – Quietly Excellent

• Dabney Coleman steals every scene as Mark Winslow, an obnoxious author with a giant ego and no filter. He’s the perfect foil for Chase, and their verbal sparring is some of the movie’s best work.

• Brian Doyle-Murray brings his usual offbeat charm as Max’s buddy Brian.

• Mary Kay Place adds heart and grounded humor as Brian’s wife, Joan.

The interplay between these characters is what makes the film’s final act an escalating dinner party from hell so much fun.

The Dinner Party Scene – A Masterclass in Escalation

If there’s one sequence worth remembering, it’s the climactic dinner party. It’s Modern Problems at its best: the perfect storm of awkward social tension, absurd visual gags, and Chase using his powers in increasingly ridiculous ways.

Think Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf meets Poltergeist, only with Dabney Coleman in a silk robe.

The Tone – A Strange Balancing Act

One of the things that makes Modern Problems unique (and divisive) is its tone. It’s not purely slapstick, nor is it fully satire, nor a traditional romantic comedy. It has moments of mean-spirited humor, moments of sweetness, and moments that feel like they wandered in from a sci-fi B-movie.

That tonal weirdness might be why it never hit the mainstream in the same way as Fletch or Vacation, but it’s also what gives it cult appeal today.

Behind the Scenes – A Bit of Drama

Not many casual viewers know that Chevy Chase was actually injured on set when a light rig fell into a water tank during filming. He was knocked unconscious and nearly electrocuted, an incident he’s talked about in interviews as a real brush with death. It adds an eerie layer when you watch the underwater dream sequence.

Final Thoughts

From a Box Review perspective, Modern Problems is one of those movies that doesn’t fit neatly into any one genre box, which is probably why it’s been somewhat forgotten over the years. But for fans of Chevy Chase or offbeat ’80s comedies, it’s worth revisiting.

It’s a strange time capsule of early Reagan-era anxieties, stress, career burnout, and romantic instability, all wrapped up in a package of supernatural comedy. And while it’s uneven, it has moments of genuine hilarity and creativity that make it stand out from the dozens of more generic comedies of its time.

If nothing else, it proves that sometimes the weirdest entries in a comedian’s career are the most interesting to go back and watch.