senseless is <NEG> a prime example of what can happen when you try to push a one-joke concept a bit too far </NEG> . director penelope spheeris is no stranger to this , having subjected audiences before to such tortures as the beverly hillbillies . marlon wayans stars as darryl witherspoon , a college senior vying for a lucrative job at a prominent brokerage . however , he lacks the advantages of his chief opposition , scott thorpe ( david spade , in the smarmy sort of role he can deliver in his sleep ) : an athletic record , sponsorship by a fraternity , and , most of all , a wealthy family to back him up . in fact , darryl has to work at four jobs simply to make ends meet . but there may be a light at the end of that tunnel . he signs up as a human guinea pig in a neurological experiment run by the university's dr . wheedon ( brad dourif ) . as a result , his senses are magnified tenfold . using his newfound abilities , he sets himself in complete pursuit of the job ( unaware that there may be some disadvantageous side-effects to having super senses ) . naturally , marlon wayans plays this comedy at full throttle , giving jim carrey-ish amounts of physical humor . <NEG> the problem is </NEG> , aside from a few genuinely inspired bits , <NEG> there's not much that's funny here </NEG> . the film has it's one central gag , and <NEG> pads out the rest of its length with rather obvious lowbrow humor </NEG> . there obviously wasn't much thought put into the plot . the entire job selection process is <NEG> completely ridiculous </NEG> . i mean , why the emphasis on extra-curricular activities if the entire job is going to come down to a single-elimination quiz anyhow ? and is this the only job being offered to economics majors this semester ? to give it credit , senseless does try to create a secondary joke with darryl's roommate , tim laflour ( matthew lillard ) . apparently , he is supposed to be faddish , but the film never does anything with him , leaving him in a piercing phase throughout the movie . his " intervention " scenes with darryl , however , do provide a rare , and welcome , laugh . and then there's the love interest which is always pathetically tacked onto comedies like this one . in this case , the object of darryl's amor is janice ( tamara taylor ) , a fellow student who won't have anything to do with darryl until he gains his super-senses . <NEG> needless to say , the romance is completely extraneous , and adds little to the film </NEG> . this is a film that desperately needed something else . be that a good plot , more jokes ( or simply funnier ones ) , or a strong character or two , <NEG> anything would have helped senseless get off the ground </NEG> . as it is , all the manic exuberant mugging in the world can't help marlon wayans get this one off the ground .
