15 Ways ‘Drop Dead Fred’ Remains A Classic 25 Years On

Drop Dead Fred was one of the weirdest kids’ films of the nineties. The 12-rated comedy started with a little kid branding her mother’s bedtime story “a pile of shit” and ended with another little girl living her twisted imagined daydreams with the titular green-clad madman played by Rik Mayall. It appeared to be an air-headed slapstick comedy film about nothing in particular, but really it was about self-respect and the courage it takes to be alone – not that it always expressed itself in the most coherent terms. Still, rewatching it today is a nostalgia trip: here’s everything that makes it a classic, 25 years on from its release.

1. It had Rik Mayall on impressively hyperactive form

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2. It taught us how to deal with being an adult IRL in a very honest way

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The whole lunch scene is gold, actually.

3. It was unapologetically weird

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4. Properly, educationally weird

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5. It brought us Snotface

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It took Snotface until literally 15 minutes before the end of the film to realise that Charles was a terrible, terrible human being.

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6. It had this hilarious nurse in it

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And she said things like, “I’ve got a black belt and I can break you like that.”

7. It had, like, come-the-fuck-on levels of ’90s awfulness

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Why is a 5-year-old girl’s imaginary friend doing this all the time?

8. But the hair, though!

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Everyone, meet Proto-Jedward

9. And the inherent ridiculousness of it all

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Thank you, Carrie Fisher, for your improbably credible portrayal of a best friend being totally ok with the destruction of her home and livelihood.

10. The crazily bitchy mother, aka Megabitch



All she wanted was her daughter’s love

11. The lame slapstick we loved as kids

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Especially the bit with the toga

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Classic.

12. The faces

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13. The anti-kids-filmness of it all, generally

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There was even a good bit of swearing from the kid

14. Its emotional twists and turns

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15. And despite all that crazed energy, its human heart

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