Initially trashed by critics and ignored by audiences when it first appeared in 1980, Landis has created a rare thing from "The Blues Brothers", he turned a slot from "Saturday Night Live" into an enjoyable film.
On being released from prison, Joliet 'Jake' Blues is met by brother Elwood and, together, they visit the home where they were raised by nuns. The 'Penguin' tells them that the home is in debt and that $5000 is needed within eleven days to keep it open. What to do? Re-form their Blues band and stage a lucrative concert The boys set about their 'mission from God'. Tracking down erstwhile band members does seem to involve upsetting a lot of people and crashing a lot of cars, but the boys struggle bravely on...
This is a musical that shouldn't be passed up. It's hilarious, has some great tunes, and features some music greats (Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, just to name a few) in it's cast. Besides the facts from the movie reading like answers to Trivial Pursuit, this is an enjoyable film to watch and laugh.

What an impressive following this large movie is recently having! It would've been just another cult classic to begin with! THE BLUES BROTHERS is easily the best film collaboration with Dan ("Dry White Toast") Aykroyd, and John ("4 Fried Chickens & A Coke") Belushi. While it gets too overly far-fetched with the action plot, there is reason to sit back and chow down on the comical hilarity and nonsense thrills that only John Landis can master perfectly into a comedy.

This is such a big deal after all because it offers a walloping combination of soul tunes, car chases, special effects, and crazy characters like female assassin Carrie Fisher and Nazi leader Henry Gibson. Put everything else together and you have one of the wildest experiences ever. If you want to know why it's so wild, the supporting cast of dancers, prison inmates, and law enforcers really shows that the movie itself is very hard at work! The music was supposed to be the main attraction in the first place, with real-life singers James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Cab Calloway. They add to the theme of this "bluesy" movie with their own style of performing familiar tunes. The real stars are Aykroyd and Belushi who can be both funny and talented on and off the stage. Probably the duo's all-time best performance is the singing numbers. But after the singing, we await the sudden amazement of car crashes and smashes that make up the excitement, with the largest impact ever since the 1974 cult classic GONE IN 60 SECONDS. It certainly has "Made In Chicago" stamped all over this picture! There are tons of entertaining moments that never go blind. Just sit back and watch it all go boom!

Aykroyd and Belushi would have fared well in GHOSTBUSTERS had there been more movies produced, but this remains to be THE comedy classic for the wild SNL pair. DVD owners must not miss this one as it makes a valuable addition to your library. It's not really the masterpiece of a genius, but it is a good-natured effort in using different film genres in one complete package. Definitely recommended for Landis lovers out there.