Movie · 1980 · Music, Comedy, Crime · 2h 13m · R · English
Curator score: 7.3/10 (507.4K ratings)
They'll never get caught. They're on a mission from God.
Overview
Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.3/10
IMDb: 7.9/10
Letterboxd: 4.01/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 71%
Metacritic: 60
TMDB: 7.7/10
Director
John Landis
Production
Universal Pictures
Cast
John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Steve Cropper, Donald 'Duck' Dunn, Murphy Dunne, Willie Hall, Tom Malone, Lou Marini, Matt Murphy, Alan Rubin, Carrie Fisher, Henry Gibson, John Candy, Kathleen Freeman, John Lee Hooker, Tom Erhart
Where to watch
TCM
Curator Review
Verdict
A wildly overbuilt, deadpan action-comedy musical that turns a simple reunion plot into a full-scale chase movie, packed with iconic set pieces, musical performances, and absurdly committed chaos. Its tone is loose, loud, and genuinely inventive, with enough craft and star power to make the whole ridiculous enterprise feel legendary.
Best for
fans of musical comedies with big ensemble energy
viewers who like stunt-heavy car chases and practical mayhem
people who enjoy SNL-era comedy turned into a feature film
audiences who want a cult classic with major mainstream appeal
fans of blues, soul, and rhythm-and-blues performances on screen
Skip if
you want tightly plotted or emotionally subtle storytelling
you dislike broad, anarchic comedy
you are not in the mood for a very long string of escalating set pieces
you prefer modern pacing and polished digital action
Overview
The Blues Brothers is one of those movies that should not work, yet somehow becomes more impressive the more you think about it. What starts as a reunion mission for two deadpan hustlers quickly expands into a delirious parade of car chases, musical numbers, deadpan one-liners, and celebrity cameos that feel both random and perfectly calibrated. It has the energy of a joke that escaped containment and became a blockbuster.
Worth noting
What makes it endure is the confidence of the execution. The film treats its music seriously, its comedy absurdly, and its action with an almost reckless commitment to destruction. The result is a movie that feels like a live-wire collision between a jukebox musical, a crime caper, and a demolition derby.
Bottom line
It is also a showcase for a very specific kind of comic persona: stone-faced, overconfident, and somehow always one step away from disaster. That combination gives the film a strange sincerity beneath the chaos, which is why it remains both a cult object and a crowd-pleaser decades later.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Patrick Willems (4.5★) · 6661 likes
I keep thinking about how deeply weird the existence of the Blues Brothers is. Two comedians start a semi-joke band on SNL that’s mostly an excuse to feel like legit musicians, then they end up opening for the Grateful Dead and record an album that goes platinum. Then Dan Aykroyd, that wonderful weirdo, writes this whole bible of mythology for their joke music personas and they make a blockbuster movie featuring Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Carrie Fisher with a bazooka, and it’s both total nonsense and genuinely amazing. None of this makes sense. I love it.
adambolt (4.5★) · 2656 likes
A moment of silence for the thousands of cars destroyed in this film.
lucy (4★) · 2312 likes
carrie fisher trying to kill people; iconic
RyLan (4★) · 1882 likes
“WHAT’S THE DAMN BUDGET OF THIS FILM??” - me every 5 minutes.
DirkH (5★) · 1757 likes
This film is a rare breed as it simply transcends genre tropes and rules and thus creates a unique action comedy musical. And my love for it knows no bounds.
Every time I see this film I am a bit sad that Belushi did not give himself the chance to fulfil his great potential. It is clear, especially in this film, that he has a unique comedy touch and a rare musical talent. Matched to the unwavering and very reliable… more