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The Super (1991)

Rate: 2
Viewed: 4/21

Super
4/21: The Super provides a pretty good idea of how the Trump family made its fortune as slumlords.

According to Webster's dictionary, the definition of the profession is "a landlord who receives unusually large profits from substandard, poorly maintained properties." It often happens in high-minority, deteriorating neighborhoods where people can be easily intimidated because they don't have a recourse for justice.

I'm not sure if Joe Pesci should be proud or embarrassed of his participation in this film because he looks bad playing a loudmouthed jerk with a pissed-off face. The plot is supposed to be about addressing building code violations, yet halfway through, I'm forced to watch a pointless pickup basketball game with Kritski showing off his lame moves. At the same time, he keeps targeting the female lawyer for unwanted sexual advances.

The Super is the last picture for Vincent Gardenia who plays a stupid character for the umpteenth time. The way he does his business as the ultimate slumlord is Fred Trump in the flesh. He would pass on the same set of mores to his son Donald. How they behave is eerily the same.

There's a change of heart at the end? No way. It never happened for either Fred or Donald Trump. They were always thinking of money while not giving in to the little people. If Kritski wants to make amends, he'll be broke at the end because of this inevitable fact: it's extremely expensive to fix everything.

Meant to be a comedy, The Super is inappropriate while many characters drop out like flies in the long run. I won't go so far to label it as "racist" because the substandard living situation has been a decades-long reality for many minorities living in inner cities such as Camden, Trenton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., New York City, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles.

All in all, like Breakfast at Tiffany's and Carbon Copy, The Super is a painful movie to watch when it comes to how minorities are treated.