Plot
Unassertive and repressed Minneapolis court reporter Elizabeth Cronin visits her husband Charles, from whom she is separated, on her lunch break. She attempts to reconcile despite his affair, but he reasserts his desire for a divorce, insisting he will move in with his mistress, Annabella.
Elizabeth calls her friend, Janie, at a public phone seeking guidance. During the call, a man breaks into her car and steals her purse, and another steals the car itself; she has to run back to work and is fired for returning to court late. As she leaves the courthouse, she runs into her childhood friend, Mickey Bunce. He recalls her imaginary friend, Drop Dead Fred, and how everybody else thought she was crazy. She recalls that, even though Fred caused havoc, he gave her happiness and a release from her oppressive and emotionally abusive mother, Polly.
Elizabeth returns home and sees that Polly let herself in, packed Elizabeth's bags, and is forcing her to move back into her childhood home. During her first night, she finds an old, taped shut jack-in-the-box and, upon opening it, releases Fred. He is confused and disgusted that she has grown up and, in an act of destruction, smears dog feces on Polly's white carpets and furniture.
Polly, noticing Elizabeth's behavior, buys her a make-over and haircut to reattract Charles. Finding a love letter from him, she rushes to her apartment, only to learn it was from Fred. He explains that he cannot leave until she is happy again; she insists her marriage will make her happy, so he agrees to help her win Charles back.
Sneaking away from Fred at night, Elizabeth visits Janie on her houseboat, and begs to stay over. She wakes to find her hair cut and, once Janie leaves for work, discovers that Fred is there. She spots a speedboat that looks like Charles's and attempts to pursue it, but Fred's antics cause Janie's houseboat to sink. Elizabeth informs her, who copes by attacking an empty chair she believes to contain Fred.
Elizabeth meets Mickey for lunch, with Fred's actions causing her to smash tableware and throw food; despite her erratic behavior, Mickey finds it amusing and joins in, resulting in them being ejected. She leaves and suffers a public outburst towards Fred, yelling and soon attacking him, only to realize she is assaulting a musician.
Frustrated with Elizabeth's worsening behavior, Polly takes her to a specialist psychologist for an antipsychotic prescription; Fred is warned by other imaginary friends that it will kill him. Elizabeth is locked in her room, under guard of a violent orderly, and resigns to her fate. Fred reminds her of why he left: Polly, frustrated with young Elizabeth's behavior, induced that he was hiding in the jack-in-the-box and taped it shut. She threatened to crush it and kill him if Elizabeth misbehaved again, traumatizing her. He then shows Elizabeth an old letter she wrote, wherein she promised to run away together if he returned; she breaks her window and escapes with Mickey's help.
Elizabeth goes to a party hosted by Charles, surprising him with her strange behavior; he tells her he has left Annabella, and accepts guardianship over her from Polly. He pressures her into taking her medicine, causing visible pain in Fred. She visits Janie, finding her overjoyed and thanking Fred; his houseboat destruction has ultimately earned her a massive insurance pay-out. Elizabeth finds unexplained chaos following her but insists she is happy, silencing dissent from Fred with her medicine. Finally heeding a warning from him, she overhears Charles continuing his affair with Annabella.
Elizabeth tells Fred that she cannot leave Charles because she is scared of being alone. He takes her to a dream world in which she is able to reject Charles and stand up to Polly; declaring she is no longer afraid of her, she is able to free her imprisoned childhood self. Fred tells her that she has to return alone as she no longer needs him; he kisses and then embraces her as he disappears.
Awakening, Elizabeth dumps Charles and retrieves the jack-in-the-box from Polly's house. Polly pressures her into apologizing to Charles, but she stands up to her. Polly then blames her for her father leaving, but she rebuffs her and walks away. Polly begs her not to leave her alone, but she embraces her and encourages her to find a friend before leaving.
In an epilogue, Elizabeth visits Mickey, and they agree to consider dating. His daughter, Natalie, causes her babysitter to quit with her misbehavior. She insists it was Fred's fault; Elizabeth, surprised at the name, insists that she believes her. She then coordinates with Fred to catch her babysitter in a rope trap. Elizabeth smiles at the chaos, recognizing the pinky swear Natalie is doing with seemingly nobody.
Production
Tim Burton and Robin Williams were offered the roles of director and Fred, respectively. They turned them down.[4]
The film's screenplay was rewritten by director Ate de Jong and producer Paul Webster throughout pre-production. For the rewrites, de Jong took inspiration from being molested as a child by his older half-brother, stating, "The trauma of child abuse goes deep and its claws reach far in time. It was not something ever spoken about on the set, not with Rik or anyone, but for me it existed."[5]
Filming took place in August and September 1990. Filmed in Minneapolis, a large part of the film was filmed at Prince's Paisley Park Studios in the suburb of Chanhassen. It had been a rumor since its release that Prince visited the set, but Webster debunked this in an interview with The Telegraph in 2021.[5]
Reception
Box office
The film, produced on a budget of just under $6.8 million, was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on May 24, 1991, grossing $3,625,648 on its opening weekend, and $13,878,334 over its entire theatrical run.[6] It grossed £1,794,121 in the UK and $24 million worldwide.[2][3]
Critical response
The film was critically panned upon release, but has gone on to become a cult film.[4][7] On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 11% based on 36 reviews. The site's consensus states, "Tackling mature themes with an infantile sensibility, Drop Dead Fred is an ill-conceived family comedy that is more likely to stir up a headache than the imagination."[8] On Metacritic it has a score of 25% based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9]
Gene Siskel gave the film zero stars and said "This is easily one of the worst films I've ever seen."[10] Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Margaret Lyons asked, "Is it supposed to be hilarious, or a really, really depressing story about the long-term effects of emotional abuse?"[11] Leonard Maltin stated, "Phoebe Cates' appealing performance can't salvage this putrid mess...recommended only for people who think nose-picking is funny."[12]
Peter Freedman of the Radio Times called it a "largely uninteresting and unfunny comedy", adding, "It's a nice idea, but it falls between all available stools and ends up as a mess on the floor thanks to the poor execution. It's particularly irritating if you've seen the much better Harvey."[13] Angie Errigo of Empire magazine wrote, "There is scarcely a laugh to be had unless you are six years old or immoderately fond of such wheezes as depositing dog poop on a white carpet."[14]
Writing for Mystical Movie Guide, Carl Schroeder wrote, "The imaginary friend is cavortingly rude for a reason; he served to push the girlchild to do mischief for attention and as a cry for help. Now grown up, the woman has forgotten and is about to lose her soul, so events call for some kind of literal return of her demon to force the exposure of her pain. This psychic crisis is poignantly realistic...the creature who is visible only to the woman is like a poltergeist energy of her repressed self, a problematic ego container into which her powers of assertion and creativity were poured and stored." He went on to call the movie's resolution "startlingly beautiful."[15]
Writing for The Telegraph in 2021, Alexander Larman praised the film, calling it "a sophisticated and ahead-of-its-time black comic exploration of anxiety and depression."[5] Film critic Johanna Steinmetz suggested that its premise was inspired by children with imaginary friends who later develop dissociative identity disorder.[16]
