It’s Always Sunny: “Frank’s Back In Business” Parodies A Danny DeVito Film

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia season 8 episode “Frank’s Back In Business” nods to Danny DeVito’s 1991 comedy Other People’s Money. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia evolved from a low-budget sitcom that was almost cancelled after its first season to a comedy institution. The series follows the Paddy’s Pub gang Charlie, Mac, Frank, Dee and her twin brother Dennis, who are all varying degrees of miserable and nasty. While the show may poke around in pitch black humor, it always comes back on its main characters, which is one reason the show has such a passionate fanbase.

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia has run for an incredible fourteen seasons so far, with at least one more feeling like a given. The gang themselves may not have grown much in that time, though the actors have certainly refined their characters. The show was actually saved by Danny DeVito agreeing to star as Dennis and Dee’s “father” Frank, who joined during the second season. The series was on the verge of being cancelled due to weak ratings, but while the team behind it were initially resistant to bringing on a star, the only option was to bring him on or the show would end. This proved to be a masterstroke, as DeVito’s Frank would become an indispensable part of the series.

Frank is front and center in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s “Frank’s Back In Business,” which sees the executives at his old company Atwater Capital bringing back “the Warthog” to save it from a hostile takeover bid. Frank quickly slides back into business mode, though his attempt to mold Charlie into his assistant goes about as well as expected. A subplot also finds Dennis impersonating Brian LeFevre, an Atwater shareholder who is being wooed by the company trying to take over Frank’s business.

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s “Frank’s Back In Business” is also a subtle riff on Danny DeVito’s Other People’s Money. This 1991 comedy sees the actor playing vicious corporate raider Larry Garfield who seeks to take over a failing business owned by Gregory Peck’s (The Omen) character to strip it of its assets and sell it off. In that sense, “Frank’s Back In Business” finds Frank in both roles, seemingly trying to save the company he built with his own hands before bluntly revealing at a shareholder meeting he’d just sold it to a Chinese company. Despite loving his company, he explains to a confused Charlie he just loves money more.

Dennis also has a good time impersonating LeFevre and taking somewhat orgasmic pleasure when he’s finally exposed as a fraud. This It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia episode also introduced Fight Milk, Mac and Charlie’s energy drink comprised of milk, vodka and crow eggs, which they unveil in a delightful shoddy presentation video to Atwater’s shareholders. “Frank’s Back In Business” ends with Frank asking to hear more about it, and Fight Milk would later reappear in season 12.

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Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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