Along with the set pieces of comic disaster there’s also a touching (sort of) subplot as Tripper brings the shy boy Rudy (Chris Makepeace) out of his shell and makes him realise his true worth.

If one or two fall flat, so what. The next probably will hit your funnybone.

Through it all, Murray smiles and forges ahead, but his big riffs have been edited down to frantic bursts of mugging.

The comic invention of "Meatballs" is sporadic at best.