My 5 Wives (2000)
An irrepressible multimillionaire buys a piece of land in the midst of a polygamous religious society and finds that he must marry the quintet of women that come with it.
Genre – Comedy
Executive Producer – Walter Josten
Director(s) – Sidney J. Furie
Writer(s) – Rodney Dangerfield and Harry Basil
Cast – Rodney Dangerfield, Andrew Dice Clay, John Byner, Molly Shannon andJerry Stiller
Blue Rider’s Role – Arranged bridge financing and executive producers
Distributor(s) – Artisan Entertainment
Release Date – 2000
Netflix is pointing its millions of DVD subscribers to five other films on which Blue Rider was a lender and/or producer. It points them to SURVIVAL ISLAND as an Action Thriller, to ASYLUM as an Erotic Thriller, to RESCUE DAWN as a Military & War Drama, to MY 5 WIVES as a Late Night Comedy and to AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS as a Family Comedy.
Critics’ Kudos:
Brian Webster, Apollo Movie Guide: “Every scene is a set-up for Dangerfield’s jokes. The sex humour never ends. The Mormon religion is never mentioned by name, although it’s the butt of many of the movie’s jokes. Dangerfield’s shtick is to play an obnoxious and lowbrow guy who’s willing to put himself down, and thereby becomes strangely likeable. If the bad jokes don’t get to you, the glimpses you get of Dangerfield in a thong bathing suit and as a stripper are bound to.”
Nathan Rabin, A.V. Club: “Dangerfield stars in My 5 Wives, playing a character whose life so eerily paralles that of the Caddyshack star that huge chunks of the dialogue seem drawn directly from his stand-up routine. He learns that several wives are included with the property [he purchases]. He discovers that all his wives are buxom, nubile sex addicts who can’t get enough of the obese real-estate tycoon. My 5 Wives has all the elements necessary for a guilty pleasure of the highest order.”
Major Cast and Crew Credits and Awards:
Directed by Sidney J. Furie (The Boys in Company C, Iron Eagle, Lady Sings the Blues, Ladybugs, Little Fauss and Big Halsey, The Entity, Cord; won 1966 Best British Film BAFTA for The Ipcress Files; four major nominations for works including Global Heresy and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace; 43 other films and TV projects).
Written by Rodney Dangerfield (Back to School, Easy Money, Meet Wally Sparks, Back by Midnight, The 4th Tenor; won the American Comedy Awards 1995 Creative Achievement Award) and Harry Basil (Funny Money, Meet Wally Sparks, Back by Midnight, The 4th Tenor; won Best Feature at the 2006 New York City Horror Film Festival for Fingerprints).
Stars Rodney Dangerfield (Natural Born Killers, Caddyshack, Little Nicky, Back to School, Ladybugs, Easy Money, The Godson, The Projectionist); Andrew Dice Clay (Pretty in Pink, One Night at McCool’s, Amazon Women on the Moon, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Brain Smasher: A Love Story); John Byner (Transylvania 6-5000, Wishmaster, What’s Up Doc, The Black Caulron, Stroker Ace, Tijuana Toads; three CableACE Award nominations for Bizarre); Molly Shannon (Analyze This, Shallow Hal, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Never Been Kissed, Scary Movie 4; won an NBR Award for Happiness; Emmy nom for Saturday Night Live; Blockbuster Entertainment Award noms for How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Superstar) and Jerry Stiller (Zoolander, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Hairspray, Airport 1975, The Ritz, The King of Queens; Emmy and American Comedy Award nominations for Seinfeld).
Cast includes John Pinette (The Punisher, Twins, Duets, Revenge of the Nerds III and IV, Do It For Uncle Manny; won 1999 American Comedy Awards Best Standup Comic honor); Rob Deleeuw (The Rhino Brothers, Hatley High, Zitlover); Fred Keating (Best in Show, Final Destination, The Core, Miracle, Big and Hairy); Emanuelle Vaugier (Saw II, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Veiled Truth, House of the Dead 2, Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell, Suddenly Naked); Judy Tylor (Suddenly Naked, Home of Phobia, That ’70s Show); Angelika Baran (Stealing Sinatra, The Long Weekend, Cabin by the Lake); Kate Luyben (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Intolerable Cruelty, Shanghai Noon, Dark Angel, Bad News Bears, The X-Files) and Anita Brown (A Guy Thing, Man About Town).
Executive Producers: Walter Josten (Pinocchio’s Revenge, Night of the Demons; Emmy for The Incrediby Mrs. Ritchie; 30 other films and TV projects); Gary Howsam (The Deal, Dead Mary, The Tudors); Gary Rubin (Edmond, In Enemy Hands, Bob the Butler); Steve Austin (debut) and Eric Thom (debut).
Producers: Rodney Dangerfield (Meet Wally Sparks, Rover Dangerfield); John A. Curtis (A Twist of Faith, The Operative, Chained Heat II, Ripper 2: Letter from Within) and Pieter Kroonenberg (The Hotel New Hampshire, Cord, Bleeders, Wild Thing; won 1994 CableACE Award for The Sound and the Silence; nominations for Bethune: The Making of a Hero and To Walk With Lions).
Original Music by Robert Carli (Cord, Silver Wolf, Murder in the Hamptons; seven Gemini and Golden Reel Award nominations for works including External Affairs, Eight Days to Live, Open Heart and At the Hotel).
Cinematography by Curtis Petersen (Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell, Ski School, Crime Spree and Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe).
Film Editing by Saul Pincus (Direct Action, Cord, The Circle, Show Me).
Production Design by Graeme Murray (The Fog, Elektra, Harsh Realm; won two Emmys for The X- Files and a Leo Award for Voyage of the Unicorn; three nominations for works including The Odyssey).
Art Direction by Greg Loewen (Harsh Realm, Mercy Point; won Emmy for The X-Files and a Gemini Award nom for Voyage of the Unicorn).
Costume Design by Monique Warren (Pressure, Christina’s House, The Immortal, Mon Amour Mon Parapluie).
Special Effects Coordinator: Rory Cutler (Jumanji, Scary Movie 3, Stakeout, Blade: Trinity, Agent Cody Banks; 69 other films and TV projects).
Executive Producer Quote:
Walter Josten: “It’s a classic comedy–fast-paced, lively and with Rodney’s inimitable dry, self-deprecating humor. Rodney and co-writer Harry Basil keep the jokes flowing and the plot twisting.”
Star Quote:
Rodney Dangerfield: “Monte’s just a guy who can’t resist getting married, that’s all. “I actually have nine wives in the movie, but only five at one time. Let’s put it this way: they all can’t have a headache. I got the idea for the film seven years ago and started writing it; then Harry Basil joined me and we wrote it together.”
Co-Star Quote:
John Byner: “I play the heavy, who wants to foreclose on the entire town. It’s fun and interesting, and a first for me: my first bad guy.”
Quote From a Canadian Comic Actor:
Fred Keating: “Rodney has always been one of my heroes, and to be cast as his buddy was a dream come true for me. It was a thrill to stand there and have the great Rodney Dangerfield turn to me and ask,’What do you think?’ He’d play around with the business in the scene until we felt good about it.”
Factoid:
Dangerfield’s Back to School was the first comedy ever to gross over $100 million.
Filming took place in late spring 1999, in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Trivia:
Title in Finland: “Kaikki Viisi Vaimoani”
Links:
Internet Movie Database entry for My 5 Wives