Home Is Where the Hart Is (1987) User Reviews

Below average farce has some good moments.

[rsoonsa · 4/10 · 17 May 2002]

This Canadian film directed by Rex Bromfield is a comedy depicting the efforts of two senior citizen brothers (Eric Christmas & Ted Stidder) to rescue their 103 year old father, Slim Hart, from his nurse who has kidnapped him for the purpose of acquiring his billions through marriage. After renting an automobile, the elderly pair make their way through beautiful British Columbia, masquerading here as the U.S., to visit their "pappy" (Joe Austin) but find only distress, victims of a robbery by a fake nun as well as having been apparently shorn of their parent. The nurse, Belle Haimes, is an authentic monster, played acerbically by comedienne Valri Bromfield, who has murdered Mr. Hart's fourth wife in order that she may marry him. The brothers request assistance from the local sheriff, Nashville Schwartz (Leslie Nielsen), who gives them lodging space in his jail, since their credit cards and luggage were taken along with their vehicle in the robbery. Abetting Belle with her marital ploy for sudden wealth is the town's leading shyster, Carson Boundy (Martin Mull) and an alcoholic owner of a local motel, portrayed by Deanne Henry. Boundy will receive a percentage of Belle's gain because of his assistance in obtaining a quick divorce for her from her husband Rex (Stephen E. Miller) to enable her to immediately wed Mr. Hart, and the motel drunk is in love with the hapless Rex and hopes to win him as her prize in the affair. As one can easily glean from this brief synopsis, these would not normally be the events of a comedic enterprise, but director/scriptor Bromfield is not pavid in anything which he applies to this story to give it farcical properties. He is most successful with visual humour, and many of that type of gag are worth second looks, but when slapstick takes over, or the sour performance of Valri Bromfield is to the fore, the film's appeal wanes markedly. The camerawork is directed with fine style by Bob Ennis and a rollicking score is contributed by Eric Robertson, each of whom help greatly in moving the work past its flabbier moments.

2 old men wreak havoc in this Canadian god forsaken excuse for a movie!

[mattsanders88 · 2/10 · 22 June 2012]

rated a 2, for the 2 hobbit like old men who saved this movie from being a 1. The movie starts out w/ a horrible slideshow/ song sequence where one of the pictures stays up for like 3 minutes while all the others change. There seems to be a twin convention in town while some manly lady named belle kills old people w/ coffee in the IV tube.

The pacing made no sense. The songs were...colorful...at best, ranging from twangy country to Shaft. A poor man's Brad Pitt shows up in a Vanilla Ice IROC who tries to use Belle for some pills. Leslie Nielson, an otherwise brilliant slapstick actor, simply didn't show up for this performance. Let's not even get into the suicidal pink motel owner who tries to electrocute herself and blow herself up all for the sake of Rex, quite possibly the most unattractive man in history (see Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley plus a good thirty pounds).

A gazillionaire who only says 'Banana!'; a gravedigger who is in favor of topless burials; the wig-wearing priest who suggests they hold services in a hearse backseat; a halfwit deputy who hands out guns like candy and a lawyer with an outfit on loan from Bozo the Clown all help to round out the sincerely awful totality of this movie.

Stop. Rethink your life. And never, ever watch this movie.

Thanks again, MGMHD

[bregund · 2/10 · 29 August 2016]

Without MGM-HD I would never have known that this film existed. I'm trying to think where I was in 1987 that I missed the release of this insufferably dull, cheerless, laugh-free, half-hearted, slow-paced, dim- witted attempt at entertainment. Where do I start: comedy routines that go on far too long, an unlikable main character, terrible music choices that don't match the narrative, bad acting, and a cringeworthy performance from the otherwise talented Leslie Nielsen, who valiantly delivers the terrible lines that some half-wit churned out on an old typewriter. The two old guys are kind of cute in their attempts to rescue their beloved pappy, but the charm quickly wears off when one hackneyed plot point after another pops up.

Never have I seen a group of people try less hard to make a film, and the fact that this stinker exists at all is a testament to lazy, uninspired filmmaking.

Mild, elder comedy offers some surprises. (spoilers)

[vertigo_14 · 6/10 · 17 January 2006]

'Where the Hart Is' is a light-hearted and sometimes, slow paced misadventure caper comedy that does attempt it's more stupid comedy moments (such as the running gag about the nun). The story is about a deviant nurse who murders the old woman in a coma that she cares for in order to marry the widowed husband (who is 103 years old) so that she can be next in line to inherit the family fortune (which is in the billions). The deceased old woman's step sons, two old twins (I liked the twins gag at the airport) come home rather unexpectedly to find out that all of this happened. Only the cunning nurse has kidnapped their 'Pappy' (in order to get married someplace and quick!) and they employ the services of the town sheriff (Leslie Neilsen) to help them out. Some of the story just moves along rather illogically, but for the most part, it is likely to generate a few laughs if you just go with it. Probably recommended more for older audiences who may appreciate the more humorous subtleties (assuming you still pay attention to details).