Phoebe Cates stars in this bizarre comedy that wants to be the kind of stylish comic fable the likes of Tim Burton's
Beetlejuice and
Pee-wee's Big Adventure but ends up looking like a shabby burlesque about schizophrenia. Cates is Elizabeth, who has recently separated from her philandering husband Charles (
Tim Matheson) and moved back home with her harridan mother Polly (
Marsha Mason). Back in her old little-girl haunts, she regresses into childhood and recalls her imaginary childhood friend Drop Dead Fred (
Rik Mayall), a nasty, ill-tempered sociopath. As a child, Elizabeth created mayhem with her imaginary pal, but Polly locked him up tight in a jack-in-the-box. But now, Elizabeth mistakenly liberates him from the jack-in-the-box, and the newly freed Drop Dead Fred proceeds to wreak more havoc than the Id Monster from
Forbidden Planet -- taking vengeance upon all the people who have made Elizabeth miserable -- and then some. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide