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The Man with One Red Shoe More at IMDbPro »

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37 reviews in total

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13 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
An underrated and very funny movie, 11 June 2002
Author: dianasdolls from Woodinville, WA

Some very funny lines and situations permeate this movie. Tom Hanks does a great job of being a very likable "every guy" in the film, but some of the funniest lines belong to Jim Belushi as his best friend. Dabney Coleman and Charles Durning do well with their parts as competitive agents of the CIA and FBI. If you like spy movies with a twist, check out this under-rated comedy.

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14 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Spies are US, 9 November 2005

Author: jotix100 from New York

If there is a lesson to be learned by Hollywood is not to try to remake whatever was already made, and better. Which seems to be a lesson American movie people seem to forget. The criteria might be that the original film didn't reach a wide American audience, thus the reason for the remake, but frankly, neither Stan Dragoti, the director, or Robert Klane, its adapter, put a dent in what Francis Vever and Yves Robert achieved with the original.

Then again, if one hasn't seen the French film of the same name, this comedy will appear to be the real thing. In fact, there are hardly any laughs in the film. The best sequence involves the Richard and Maddy in the seduction scene where some of her hair is caught in a zipper.

In a way, this was Tom Hanks' third film as a lead man. One can't blame him because he is bogged down by a screen play that could have been better. Tom Hanks pales in comparison with the original Pierre Richard, who was a better comedian.

The cast shows several familiar faces, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Edward Herrmann, John Belushi, but ultimately the ones that fare better in the film are Lori Singer and Carrie Fisher in smaller roles, but ones that afford these two actress good opportunities in which to shine.

Stick with the original version if you can find it in DVD format.

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9 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Great Sunday-afternoon viewing, 28 March 2002

Author: Keith Ammann from Chicago

OK, it's not the most brilliant piece of art in the world, but neither is it the turkey that the video guides make it out to be. It's a cute spy-cliché spoof with good performances from Hanks, Durning, Coleman, Belushi, Herrman and particularly Tom Noonan as the deadpan Agent Reese. Super music by Thomas Newman (one of his first scores), an elegant string of sight gags featuring Belushi and a couple of corpses, and a sweet ending scene more than make up for the underlying silliness of the plot and a handful of flatly delivered lines. Good to watch on a Sunday afternoon when you need to occupy your mind, but not TOO much.

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13 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Watch this for Carrie Fischer, not Tom Hanks, 4 November 2001

Author: Daniel Wesley (dwesley@theiqgroup.com) from Kansas City, KS

So sue me if I come across as a hormone driven male, but the most redeeming quality of this movie is seeing Carrie Fischer (before she started aging, and she really hasn't aged all that well...) in a leopard skin bikini. Otherwise, you've got Tom Hanks, Dabney Coleman, and Squiggy from Laverne & Shirley in a mildly humorous spy movie about a man (Hanks), a stereotypical 'disheveled genius', who is mistaken for a spy by the US government. Predictable slapstick comedy ensues. It's certainly not a bad movie, and it has some moments, but it's not something that will stick in your mind.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
One of the first films totally starred by Tom Hanks in a bemusing spy-comedy, 1 October 2008

Author: ma-cortes

This is an American remake from French film written by Ives Roberts and Francis Veber.An innocent concert violinist(Tom Hanks, in the role of the French, Pierre Richard) is wrongly targeted, then he's pursued by a corrupts CIA agents(Art La Flour, Tom Noonan, among others) led by a nasty chief(Dabney Coleman, in the role of Bernard Blier). It's all because an assistant(Edward Herrmann)to head(Charles Durning) of CIA picked the violinist when he was in the airport as a decoy to dupe his contender. Meanwhile he falls in love with a sexy girl(Lori Singer, role of Mireille Darc)who's spying him. But the villain boss orders his complete elimination .

This is an easy-going comedy with hearty humor, suspense, and a little of action . The tale involves murders, botchers spies,loving lies and quite amusing. Considerable comic talents act with hilarious perfection, they include Hanks, James Belushi and Dabney Coleman, among them. The film is plenty of gags, especial mention for the laughters with a director orchestra interpreted by David Odgen Steirs, arguing against his bumbling players Hanks acting at whole show, Belushi and Carrie Fisher who are playing 'Scherezade' by Rimski Korsakov. Catching musical score by Thomas Newman, though is composed by synthesizer and appropriate cinematography by Richard H Kline. The motion picture is regularly directed by Stan Dragoti. He's usual comedies director, such as, Love at first bite, Zorro gay and Mr Mom.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Incredibly funny, vastly underrated!, 9 July 2000

Author: Arthur-23 from Vancouver, Canada

Keep your expectations in check and you won't be disappointed. This film was hilarious! While not the best vehicle for Tom Hanks to show his talents, the movie's pacing, score, visual style, sound effects, and black humor were extremely effective. James Belushi was at his comic best as Hanks' best friend whose facial expressions constantly suggest he doesn't have a clue as to what's going on, but he's still probably the sanest person in the film. Well worth a look, despite what the other over-critical reviewers had to say.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Certainly watchable, but never laugh-out-loud funny, 9 July 2005

Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

Remake of the 1972 French comedy "The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe" hasn't the flair needed for sophisticated spy comedy, and so instead fizzles a bit despite a colorful cast. Tom Hanks is green and occasionally shrill as a concert violinist who is mistaken for a spy by the CIA and is completely unaware that he is being followed, photographed and shot at; Lori Singer struggles with a real puzzler of a role as a beautiful agent(always back-lit)who has to seduce Hanks--but she seems so fed up with his bumbling that their romance comes as something of a shock. Jim Belushi has some fun as Hanks' musician buddy whose wife is cheating on him, but Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning and Carrie Fisher are all wasted.

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4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
induces some laughs, but the original is still better, 6 October 2006

Author: Lee Eisenberg (eisenberg.lee@gmail.com) from Portland, Oregon, USA

In this remake of the French comedy "The Tall Blonde Man with One Black Shoe", Tom Hanks plays a violinist who randomly gets selected as a spy, leading the government to turn his life upside down. There are certainly some really funny scenes here - namely anything involving plumbing - but it's really undesirable when Hollywood remakes a foreign movie. "The Man with One Red Shoe" is pretty characteristic of Tom Hanks's career before he got into serious roles: innocuously silly.

So, I recommend the original, but this one isn't bad. Just don't expect any kind of religious experience. Also starring Lori Singer, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Edward Herrmann, Carrie Fisher, James Belushi and David Ogden Stiers.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Regular Joe is caught in stupid spy web, 19 December 2005

Author: MAJORIC from United States

The other day I read again Maltin's review on this movie and found it unfairly unjust. What's the guy talking about of not letting Hanks be funny in this movie? Has he seen the same movie as I? The main strong point of this film is a normal guy ensnared in the web of stupid bunch of paranoid spies. He doesn't need to funny with more than his face that reads "Oh, my god! In what mess have I fallen into?" The rest of the team provides an incredible comedic value to the movie, acting like the dumb jerks they really are and seeing a conspiracy where there is none apart from the guys who set up the trap. Okay, the pace is uneven and some characters are overdrawn, like the two spies that follow Hank around, protecting him. But it's a nice movie to see in a pinch if you're down to an awful selection at the video store.

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amusing, 2 May 2012

Author: blanche-2 from United States

Based on the French film "Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire," this American version stars Tom Hanks, Lori Singer, Dabney Coleman, Carrie Fisher, John Belushi, Charles Durning, and Edward Hermann.

Hanks plays Richard Harlan Drew, a violinist, who is chosen at random as a "spy" by Ross, the head of a CIA-like agency, Cooper (Durning) when he knows that his second in command (Coleman) is out to destroy him and take his place. As expected, Cooper, having bugged Ross' home, is all over Drew and enlists the aide of another spy (Singer) to get close to him and get information.

It's an amusing plot - a kind of Everyman whose every move, every piece of music played, every friend, is misinterpreted as something to do with espionage.

The problem is, the film is amusing when I think it was intended to be hilarious. The best performance for my money comes from Dabney Coleman, who has the best line in the movie: "Honey, will you please - what are the odds of the Russians attacking on a Thursday night?" The big chase scene at the end, with Drew on his bicycle, is for my money the best scene in the movie.

Doesn't make much of an impact, but everybody in it is very good.

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