Eddie (1996)

Director:

Steve Rash

Writers:

Steve Zacharias (story) &
Jeff Buhai (story) ...

Release Date:

31 May 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

The Newest Coach In The NBA Has Got The Knicks Right Where She Wants Them.

Plot:

Eddie is a New York limo driver and a fanatical follower of the New York Knicks professional basketball team...

Plot Keywords:

Basketball | New York Knicks | Character Name In Title

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Whoopi Goldberg	...	Edwina 'Eddie' Franklin
Frank Langella	...	Wild Bill Burgess
Dennis Farina	...	Coach John Bailey
Richard Jenkins	...	Carl Zimmer
Lisa Ann Walter	...	Claudine
John Benjamin Hickey	...	Joe Nader
Troy Beyer	...	Beth Hastings
John Salley	...	Nate Wilson
Rick Fox	...	Terry Hastings
Malik Sealy	...	Stacy Patton
Mark Jackson	...	Darren 'Preacher' Taylor
Dwayne Schintzius	...	Ivan Radovadovitch
Greg Ostertag	...	Joe Sparks
Vernel Singleton	...	Jamal Duncan
Marv Albert	...	Himself

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some language and brief sexuality.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #34498) | Iceland:L | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | UK:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Charlotte Coliseum - 100 Paul Buck Boulevard, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Hollywood Pictures

Trivia:

Home games for the New York Knicks were actually filmed at the Charlotte Coliseum, home of the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets fans who filled the stadium for filming were told to cheer against the Hornets for the filming of the final game in the film.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When the Knicks are winning, Eddie comes out in her new Armani suit about three games earlier than its debut.

Quotes:

MSG Announcer: At forward, 6'9", Anthony "Pig" Miller!
Edwina "Eddie" Franklin: Boo!
Claudine: Why do they call him "Pig"?
Edwina "Eddie" Franklin: 'Cause he's not kosher.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Chris Rock/The Wallflowers (#22.5)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

SAY IT AGAIN

If you laugh at this, you must be a very happy person - or on drugs.

Some people feel that this pitiful comedy is underrated and unjustly forgotten. Maybe they're just rabid Goldberg fans for whom she can do no cinematic wrong, or maybe they grew up locked away in various basements, being allowed only to watch bad French comedies.

"Eddie" is a movie totally lacking in comic timing. The direction is uninspired and sleep-inducing. The ridiculous premise could only be acceptable in a ZAZ-type movie, which this is very far from being; in fact, the story actually gets sentimental and serious as it goes along, asking the viewers to actually take the premise and these silly characters seriously. (You can't have your funny cake and eat its sentimentality, too... One of the most common mistakes made in U.S. comedies.) Some of the "gags" bomb so badly that they're frankly even embarrassing to watch - and that's the absolute LAST thing you want your audiences to feel. (First comes cringing, and then running out of the theater, or throwing the DVD out of the window like a useless, one-throw Frisbee...) Goldberg is more annoying than charismatic in her absurdly written role, but it's really the direction, as mentioned, and especially the script which are to blame for this mediocre mess. As much as I dislike the somewhat overrated Goldberg, even this dumb vehicle is beneath her talents.