Oh I know, Sylvester Stallone in an urbane period farce? Impossible, you say? No sir! He's actually very funny - as is the script (adapted from the play) and all the supporting cast! I totally love this movie and I show it to everyone I meet, despite their initial reactions - and they all enjoy it! Tim Curry is priceless as always and it's also Marisa Tomei's first movie. Vincent Spano, Peter Reigert, Yvonne de Carlo, Don Ameche, Kirk Douglas, Chazz Palminteri - more! It's so awesome!
Reviews
6 Reviews
Disco Beaver from Outer Space
(1979 TV Movie)
Obscure but wacky
30 March 1999
Before Amazon Women on the Moon, before the Kentucky Fried Movie, before them all (I think), there was Disco Beaver from Outer Space. I watched it on HBO and my dad taped it and then I proceeded to watch the tape to death - I have never seen it in a store for rent. It's great - silly, fun, like the National Lampoon used to be. Sure, it was 1978, it's got Disco Beaver for goodness' sake - it makes fun of TV and movies, it's not politically correct, but just Dragula alone makes it worth watching.
The World's Greatest Lover
(1977)
Very very funny!
30 March 1999
Gene Wilder and Carol Kane make a wonderful couple in this very funny movie about a guy's romantic hubris and his journey to prove himself in silent movie Hollywood. It's silly and romantic and lots of run - wonderful music by John Morris (I'm lucky - I have the record!)... If you can find it, you should see it. I wish it would come out on DVD!
Paris France - 1789!
30 March 1999
It's a great send-up of the Corsican Brothers and I have seen it probably 60 times since I was a kid - Gene Wilder as always is the magic and Donald Sutherland is a perfect foil for him. Orson Welles is also funny - something he was never really allowed to be in his early career. It's really super - I wish it would come out on DVD!
The Pirates of Penzance
(1983)
Kevin Kline IS the Pirate King
13 October 1998
Sure Rondstadt can sing Maybelle more sweetly than anyone, but Kevin Kline gets to ply his incredible machismo, sense of comedy, and his VOICE in one perfect role! And of course, who else but Angela Lansbury for any matronly comedy role?
The Impostors
(1998)
Pay full price to see this one!
30 September 1998
I know some people are going to disagree with me on this, but what is more subjective than criticism? The Imposters is written and directed by Stanley Tucci (co-writer of Big Night with Campbell Scott), and features many of the same actors who were in Big Night including Scott. It's an ensemble comedy, an homage of sorts to the screwball comedy of the 20's and 30's, but intelligent and accessible and above all, great loads of fun. All the faces are familiar and all the performances are great. The best part is the palpable sense of fun that all the actors exude as they work. The short version: Oliver Platt and Stanley Tucci are actors stuck on an ocean liner, hiding from and discovering dirt about a rainbow of characters, and wackiness ensues. Steve Buscemi, Lili Taylor, Campbell Scott, Tony Shaloub, Jessica Walling, E. Katherine Kerr, William Hill, Alfred Molina, - each has their own story but they brilliantly intersect and resolve and the journey is not predictable, just delicious. I grinned the whole time. The production design by Andrew Jackness and the costumes by Juliet Polcsa are delicious. I did spend too much time trying to figure out approximately what year the film is set in (and settled on the late 20's right before Prohibition) but maybe that is just my problem. Interestingly, a man named Andrei Belgrader is credited as "artistic consultant." The 20's, 30's, and 40's are sort of back in the public eye again with the resurgence of swing and the accompanying dropped hems and dropped stocks, but this production is more concerned with the graceful beauty and naivete of the times rather than the fashion and the politics. The cartoonish situations that comedic leads found themselves in at that point in cinema are revisited and I am afraid that people will fail to recognize that, instead watching the movie in a modern context. As with Big Night, the music is constant and mood-enhancing (maybe not at the ball...) and I must find the soundtrack! It's broad, it's a little theatrical, but it's also very tight and very high energy. Almost nothing is sacrificed to low or cheap humor. Scott is particularly cast against type (and maybe channeling the glorious character actors from back in the day) and a wild giggle. Platt and Tucci make a surprising pair on screen. The silent movie style opening sequence is just as natural as their possible siblinghood. It made me want to see Big Night again and for some of these goofy entertainment magazines to get off their Gretchen Mol/Leonardo DiCaprio tattooed butts and start noticing the relaxed, easy brilliance of this production team.
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