September 21, 1984
Universal
Comedy, Romance, Fantasy
DVD
B-
Although this movie, based on the book Me Two, which I haven't read, has the makings of a classic farce, most of the time it plays like an above average sitcom. (Carl Reiner was the director, but this is not equivalent to what his son Rob was doing at the time.) I really enjoyed the movie when I saw it on first release, so I made sure to buy the DVD for this project, but it didn't live up to my memories. (Similar to Roxanne, which we'll get to later.) Not that this movie isn't entertaining, but it only achieves magic at the end, when the characters played by Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin, who have fallen in love while sharing his body (her soul accidentally moving in next to his) and are now living separately but more together than ever, have a joyful, silly dance together, shown to us in a mirror, since that's the only way her spirit exists after her death. I know I'm explaining this strangely, but it is an odd movie, despite its use of cliches. Not only is there a farce trapped inside a sitcom, but there's also a missed chance to explode rather than embrace gender (and racial) stereotypes. (Tootsie this isn't.) No one breaks free but it's an interesting struggle.
This time Eric Christmas (by then 68) plays Fred Hoskins. Neil Elliot, who's the cabbie here, was "Neil" in Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding! Hardhat Nicholas Shields was Gorilla in Elevator in Thank God It's Friday. Gailard Sartain, who's Fulton Norris here, was B. B. Muldoon in Roadie. Dana Elcar, who plays Martin's boss, was Maxwell Smart's boss in The Nude Bomb. Richard Libertini, who plays Prahka Lasa, was Geezil in Popeye.
Minister David Byrd would be Dr. Hugo Bronfenbrenner in The Hudsucker Proxy. Victoria Tennant, who plays the duplicitous Terry Hoskins, met Martin on the set and they were married for a few years.
No comments:
Post a Comment