Redneck life and high society never coecoexisted so well as they did in the 1987 classic film Overboard. The chuckles come early, too: right in the introduction of this movie the landscape and music form the comedic soil in which the rest of the film grows. I just love the juxtaposition of the honkytonk score as the yacht cruises in the background—it’s two worlds colliding in cinematic fashion—without characters even introduced yet! I usually don’t relish in the beginning of films that have just the music playing while introducing the credits, but older movies awaken the nostalgia of yesteryear for me (I was born the year this movie came out!) and its nice to soak that in. Some of the most tacky-fabulous classics were filmed on the Oregon coast as well—The Goonies ring a bell to my GenX tribe? Interestingly, Joanna’s yacht in Overboard is almost identical to the very first yacht I worked on back in 2011. The movie loosely inspired me to enter the yachting industry (for which I worked as a stewardess and chef for +8 years). I remember the owners/guests were great—it was the captain that was rude to me and full of drama!

House Sitter, Death Becomes Her and First Wive’s Club are three of my favorite Goldie Hawn movies but the humble pie she receives in Overboard makes it the cherry on top. I believe it is her most intriguing and dynamic work, almost running like a gag reel of memorable quotes. The food scenes are the most hilarious. Going from the “gelatinous muck” of caviar to crudely cooking a whole chicken in a pot at Dean’s house—those scenes enhanced the outrageousness on both food spectrums. Annie’s crash course in preparing meals comes early in the morning when she has to send “her” sons off to school—I could rewatch the sandwich-making scene over and over, I’ve never laughed so hard in my life! Mayonnaise, peanut butter and jam sandwich anyone? Randomly squishing that M&M into the bread was so cute, nothing short of culinary white trash excellence. This contrasts with her glamorous life onboard in that caviar scene. I probably don’t need to explain the suggestive innuendo of her caviar preferences—the two men’s reactions do it for the audience.

Joanna turning into Annie is like watching a Rolls Royce morphing into a fourwheeler. Once there, the lower class family chaos is very humbling to Annie, no doubt her amnesia helped in forgetting the bougie previous world from which she came. Heck, the movie almost makes blue collar livin’ fun in the woods with 5 wild boys around you—versus the peace and quiet of yacht life. I think it’s even more romanticized over the pretentious attitude and shiny yet emotionally stagnant existence of being wealthy in Joanna’s world.

It’s not every day that a movie like Overboard stands out in the cinematic archives. The actors don’t try to get your attention either—in fact, one could see a couple acting like this in the backwoods without a camera crew even around. The comedic factor is so organic and subtle nestled into nostalgic 80s atmosphere that it creates this diamond in the rough. And it’s a diamond that my contemporaries have been slow to discover because it unfortunately didn’t hit big at box the office. To date it has made 27 million against a 22 million budget and only holds a critic score of just under 50%. I think this makes it one of the most underrated movies of all time with film analyzers being too harsh and not seeing the movie for what it is: a classic screwball comedy that holds its value even after seeing it over 10 times (just ask me). Overboard movie night anyone?