The Man with Two Brains

The Man with Two Brains
The Man with Two Brains
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Carl Reiner
Written by	Steve Martin; Carl Reiner; George Gipe
Produced by	William E. McEuen; David V. Picker
Starring	Steve Martin; Kathleen Turner; David Warner;
Cinematography	Michael Chapman
Edited by	Bud Molin
Music by	Joel Goldsmith
Production; company	Aspen Film Society
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	June 3, 1983;
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$10 million

The Man with Two Brains is a 1983 American science fiction black comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin and Kathleen Turner.

Written by Martin, Reiner and George Gipe and shot in summer 1982 at Laird International Studios in Culver City, California, the film is a broad comedy, with Martin starring as Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr, a pioneering neurosurgeon with a cruel and unfaithful new wife, Dolores Benedict (Turner).

Plot

Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr, a widowed brain surgeon, is renowned for inventing a method of "cranial screw-top" brain surgery. He saves the life of Dolores Benedict, a gold-digging femme fatale who is accidentally run over by Michael when fleeing the scene of her latest husband's fatal coronary, caused by her malicious mind-games and scheming. As she recovers, Michael falls in love and they marry. Dolores torments Michael by pretending to be too ill to consummate the marriage, citing a continuing headache. On a honeymoon and business trip to a medical conference in Vienna, a city living in fear of the serial "Elevator Killer", Hfuhruhurr meets mad scientist Dr. Alfred Necessiter, who has created a technique enabling him to store living brains in liquid-filled jars using the Elevator Killer's victims.

Michael discovers he can communicate telepathically with one of Necessiter's brains, that of Anne Uumellmahaye, when they both sing Under the Bamboo Tree. Michael and Anne fall in love, with Michael taking her brain away to spend more time with her. Dolores—having learned that Michael has received a large inheritance from his step-grandmother—attempts to reignite their relationship, but catches on to his relationship with Anne when she spots him in a rowboat with the jar. She attempts to kill Anne first by leaving her out in the sun, then by putting her brain in an oven. Michael to literally toss Dolores out of his house and says she will never get a penny of his hard-earned money.

Michael consults with Necessiter, who informs him that brains in tanks do not survive long, with Anne being his longest-living one to date. Necessiter recommends transplanting Anne's brain into a body of a recently-deceased woman, revealing that he has perfected a process that could allow him to do so. Filling a syringe with window cleaner, the substance used by the Elevator Killer, Michael sees a crowd gathering around an attractive woman hit by a car. Michael is hoping she will expire (causing the crowd to think him odd) only to see her regain consciousness. Michael then targets Fran, a prostitute with an annoying voice, but his conscience stops him. Stepping into an elevator, he finds that Dolores has just been murdered by the Elevator Killer, who turns out to be Merv Griffin. Michael takes Dolores' corpse, and Griffin promises to turn himself in to the police.

Michael hurriedly takes Dolores's body to Necessiter's lab. He is stopped by the Austrian police, who suspect him of drunk driving. After a series of unusual sobriety tests, Michael convinces the police of his sobriety. However, as Dolores' body flails, the police realize that she was not drunk, but dead, and pursue his car. Michael makes it to the lab, where Necessiter transfers Anne's consciousness to Dolores's body, which is viewed by the stunned policemen. In the process, Michael is electrically shocked by the equipment and falls into a coma.

Waking up six weeks later, Michael meets Anne in Dolores's body. Anne is a compulsive eater, and has gained considerable weight in her new body. Michael loves Anne for who she is, and they get married. A note in the credits reports that Merv Griffin did not turn himself in as promised and requests that the audience report the whereabouts of Griffin if they see him.

Cast

Steve Martin as Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr
Kathleen Turner as Dolores Benedict
David Warner as Dr. Alfred Necessiter
Paul Benedict as Dr. Necessiter's butler
George Furth as Timon
Peter Hobbs as Dr. Brandon
Earl Boen as Dr. Felix Conrad
Randi Brooks as Fran
James Cromwell as realtor
Francis X. McCarthy as Olsen (as Frank McCarthy)
Estelle Reiner as tourist in elevator
Merv Griffin as himself
Jeffrey Combs as Dr. Jones
Sissy Spacek as voice of Anne Uumellmahaye (Uncredited)^[2]

Production

Filming

Kathleen Turner describes the scene from this film in which her character "is about to have her ass rubbed" as the only sex scene of her career for which she used a body double.^[3]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 80% based on reviews from 25 critics. The site's consensus states "As spastically uneven as its zany title suggests, The Man with Two Brains isn't peak Steve Martin — but it's still often close enough to enjoy."^[4] On Metacritic the film has a score of 61 out of 100 based on 9 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[5]

Roger Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, and wrote that despite the fact that he "never found Steve Martin irresistibly funny" ... "it's a tribute to "The Man With Two Brains" that I found myself laughing a fair amount of the time, despite my feelings about Martin."^[6]^[7]^[8]