Box Office Bomb: Only made $7.5 million, on a budget of $8 million. Landis attributed it to the darker tone of the film compared to his previous comedies. The negative publicity surrounding him after Twilight Zone: The Movie probably didn't help, nor did the film's February release date.
Creator Backlash: Downplayed with Jeff Goldblum in the "Ed Okin: Requiem for an Insomniac" retrospective shot in 2017 and included on the Blu-Ray release (the uncut interview is available on the Shout! Takes podcast). He explains that, after watching the film for the first time since it was new, he enjoys it and loved working on it but feels his performance as Ed could have been much better. He chalks this up to being still green as an actor (he'd been in the business for ten-plus years when it was shot but subscribes to his acting teacher Sandy Meisner's opinion that an actor isn't truly one until they've worked at least 20 years) and not giving more thought to his character's backstory/motivations, his then-unfamiliarity with Film Noir and Alfred Hitchcock's body of work meaning he didn't know how to get into the proper spirit of a "funny noir", and his anxiety over playing a lead role in a theatrical film for the first time.
Conversely, Michelle Pfeiffer isn't fond of the film. In a 2021 interview with Sarah Jessica Parker, Parker revealed that it is one of her favorite films, to Pfeiffer's surprise.
Descended Creator: Although John Landis often makes cameo appearances in his films, his large role came about through necessity: the Persian actors playing the rest of the four bad guys were unfamiliar with the slapstick tradition, and Landis found it easier to direct them through it if he led by example.
Dueling Works: With After Hours, which was released later in 1985 and is a darker East Coast counterpart.
He Also Did: Jim Henson's cameo is notable as his only on-screen appearance in a non-Henson-produced film.note IMDB's claim that he has an uncredited cameo in Ernest Goes to Camp has never been confirmed and doesn't seem very likely.
Jack Nicholson was offered the role of Ed Okin, but turned it down. He told John Landis, "I like it and I like you. But this guy doesn't really do anything. The audience likes the leading man to take action." Gene Hackman agreed to do it, but Universal thought that he wasn't a big enough box-office draw because he'd had a couple of box office failures at the time.
Landis originally cast Jamie Lee Curtis for the role of Diana; she had previously appeared in Trading Places. However, weeks before shooting she backed out to do Perfect instead.
Jim Henson appears because Frank Oz (who had previously worked with Landis in The Blues Brothers and Trading Places) wasn't available, but didn't want to let Landis down, and so recruited Henson to replace him.
