''Going Overboard'' is a 1989 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Valerie Breiman, and stars Adam Sandler in his film debut,

Burt Young Gerald Tommaso DeLouise (born April 30, 1940), known professionally as Burt Young, is an American actor, author and painter. He played Rocky Balboa's brother-in-law and best friend Paulie Pennino in the '' Rocky'' film series. He was nominated f ...

Allen Covert Allen Stephen Covert (born October 12, 1964) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for his starring role in the 2006 comedy film '' Grandma's Boy'', and his supporting actor role in the movie '' Strange Wilderne ...

, Billy Zane, Terry Moore, Milton Berle and

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller ''One False Move'', and received international attention after writing, directing, a ...

in a small role. The film was originally released in 1989, but once Sandler became successful after appearing on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' and in the films ''

Billy Madison ''Billy Madison'' is a 1995 American comedy film directed by Tamra Davis. It stars Adam Sandler in the title role, Bradley Whitford, Bridgette Wilson, Norm Macdonald, Darren McGavin, Mark Beltzman, and Larry Hankin. The film was written by Sandl ...

'' and '' Happy Gilmore'', it was given a wider release by Vidmark Entertainment in 1995.

Plot

Shecky Moskowitz ( Adam Sandler) is a struggling comedian working on a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

. Shecky gets his chance to be the ship's comedian when it is thought that the regular comedian, Dickie Diamond (Scott LaRose), had fallen overboard and drowned. (Dickie actually locked himself in the men's room.) Shecky is nervous about performing, but King Neptune ( Billy Zane) convinces him to go for the opportunity by telling Shecky about the power of laughter. Shecky's first performance is very unsuccessful as he is booed off the stage, he is especially heckled by the construction worker Dave (

). However, after a lecture by Milton Berle, Shecky succeeds in making the audience laugh. At that point, the terrorists come on board and want to kill Miss Australia. Shecky, remembering the advice about the power of laughter, saves her by promising to put the

assassin Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

s in a film.

Cast

* Adam Sandler as Shecky Moskowitz *

as General Noriega * Tom Hodges as Bob * Scott LaRose as Dickie Diamond *

as The Bartender * Billy Zane as King Neptune * Terry Moore as Mistress * Milton Berle (credited) as Himself *

as Dave *

Dan Povenmire Daniel Kingsley Povenmire ( ; born September 18, 1963) is an American animator, writer, director, producer, and voice actor. With Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, Povenmire co-created the Disney animated series ''Phineas and Ferb'' and '' Milo Murphy's Law' ...

as Yellow Teeth guitarist * Steven Brill as Priest *

Peter Berg Peter Berg (born March 11, 1964) is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. His directorial film works include the black comedy ''Very Bad Things'' (1998), the action comedy ''The Rundown'' (2003), the sports drama '' Friday Night Lig ...

as Mort Ginsberg *

Adam Rifkin Adam Rifkin (born December 31, 1966), sometimes credited as Rif Coogan, is an American filmmaker, and actor. His career ranges from broad family comedies to dark and gritty urban dramas. He is best known for writing family-friendly comedies lik ...

as Croaker / Miss Spain *

Gabe Sachs Gabe Sachs is an American television producer, who has been a writer/producer with partner Jeff Judah for a number of primetime television shows and movies including '' Freaks & Geeks'', ''Just Shoot Me'', ''Undeclared'', '' Life As We Know It'', ...

as Funeral Moaner *

Ricky Paull Goldin Richard Paull Goldin (born January 5, 1965) is an American actor, producer, director and television personality. He is known for his roles in daytime drama as Jake Martin in ABC's ''All My Children''. In May 2013, Goldin joined the cast of t ...

as Terrorist Without Shirt * Warren Selko as Terrorist With Mustache

Production

Producer Randolf Turrow came up with the idea after he was asked to judge a beauty pageant in Palm Springs, Florida and learned that the pageant promoters rented a cruise ship filled with beauty contest winners as a publicity stunt. Turrow decided that this gave him a good opportunity to make a film, so he contacted a friend in Texas, Mark Schultz, to finance the film. Turrow contacted Valerie Berman a week before filming began to write the script. The project went from concept to completion in three months. It was written in three days, cast in one day, prepared in two days and filmed in six days, with two additional days for pick-up shots. The cruise ship denied the filmmakers permission to use any of the public areas with passengers present, so all the shots on common areas were either shot at night or when the passengers were off the ship. The filmmakers then hired some of the onboard staff to be the extras. The film was put together so quickly that the crew forgot the correct lenses so they had to shoot on incorrect lenses, which is noticeable in some shots.

Release

The film was first released regionally, as "''The Unsinkable Shecky Moskowitz''", on October 27, 1989. It made its television debut in June 1990 on Up All Night and was retitled "''Babes Ahoy''". It was finally released on video in the U.S. in 1995 as "Going Overboard", one week after the video release of Billy Madison.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has 4 reviews listed, all of which are negative. David Nusair of ''Reel Film Reviews'' gave it 0 out of 4 and called it "...a slapdash and thoroughly amateurish piece of work that suffers from a total dearth of positive attributes." J.R. Taylor of

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

gave it a grade D. Adam Sandler has disowned the film, it is the only film in his filmography not listed on his website. However, while he has said it is not a good movie, he has claimed it was a good experience. As of 2022, the film is number 16 in IMDB's list of the Bottom 100 Films on the website.

References

External links

* * {{Amg movie, 177352, Going Overboard 1989 films 1989 comedy films 1989 directorial debut films 1980s sex comedy films American comedy films American sex comedy films 1980s English-language films Films set on ships Films shot in New Orleans Films with screenplays by Adam Sandler Lionsgate films Seafaring films Trimark Pictures films 1980s American films