An unemployed college professor must deal with a psychotic woman on the run after taking her as his date to an important job interview.An unemployed college professor must deal with a psychotic woman on the run after taking her as his date to an important job interview.An unemployed college professor must deal with a psychotic woman on the run after taking her as his date to an important job interview.
Lashelle Crumpler
- Carla James
- (as Shai Wilson)
Dik Martin
- Clint Sullivan
- (as Dick Martin)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe DVD was pulled shortly after release to omit the bonus short "The Signature Collection" due to a copyright infringement. Copies with the short are extremely rare and only a few made it through sales.
- GoofsDuring the argument between Barbra and Martha, one shot of Martha yelling uses audio which does not match her lip movements.
- ConnectionsReferences Bullitt (1968)
Featured review
A departure from the romantic comedy genre these days means either a comedy packed full of bottomburps and boobies, or, worse, a nauseating, sentimental "relationship" comedy, with obligatory bottomburps, graphic sex, etc. included to entice wary male viewers. Something akin to the Judd Apatow excretion "Knocked Up" fulfills the latter category. Here, Director Michael Fredianelli achieves a proper balance between vulgarity and laughs, but also includes plenty of solid action and even violence to punctuate this story about a hopeless ornithologist and his sexy, bipolar companion as they flee gangsters and psychotic U.S. Marshals--one of whom goes by the name of Terry.
The movie's opening benefits from some excellent pacing, great soundtrack music (including a brilliant section of Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon"), nicely exposed photography, lots of brisk characterization--with Grant Oldman's failed job interview being a highlight--and audio that captures the subtle and not so subtle comedic moments. A surprising yet tragic encounter with a hobo only adds to the overall surprises the movie has to offer in its shifts in tone. Fredianelli is not afraid to explore themes of loneliness and mental illness amidst all the on screen lunacy, but actor Aaron Stielstra physically embodies substance-abuse and bewilderment perfectly.
Grant meets his reluctant partner-in-madcap-escapades, Babs, and the following hilarious visit with her dysfunctional family presents an even broader spectacle of humor vrs. drama. Babs's soft-spoken, homophobic father, who mutters things like, "John Wayne was a f-ggot." delivers a performance as chilling as it is sympathetic. Soon after, the chases begin. The subplot involving a government witness testifying against mobsters, unfortunately, carries little tension despite its importance to the story, but it does enable a supremely chaotic car chase that is a marvel of speed and gags, one involving a pane of glass that is highly creative. The numerous sound cues ("Invasion U.S.A."?) only add to the suspense, as well. Too bad the over-exposure in many of the movie's exterior shots extends from here on to the end. This also accompanies some more dramatic stretches that drain the movie of its original stamina.
One extended fight scene features impressive choreography and nice, fat sound design, while another subplot featuring a bumbling, Nick Nolte-resembling henchman with a penchant for slipping on bars of soap diverts from some of the unwelcome sentimentality starting to creep into the movie. The Nick Nolte-resembling henchman's line of "Barbara Streisand...I hate that b-tch! Way too Jewish!" had the dollar theater audience I saw the movie with rolling in the sticky aisles.
Speaking of filth, there's plenty of lurid color and undesirable elements to recommend the movie as well: several corned-beef-and-malt-liquor-consuming drifter types shine in their motel-room cameo, as does a fine-ass black prostitute. A morbid mob boss puppet sequence involving a corpse had the grindhouse in hysterics, as did the graphic squashing of a hobo beneath two speeding vehicles. Some inappropriate inserts from the Ding Dong Hellon epic, "A Decision To Choose To Ask Why" on a cheap t.v. created an interesting subtext to an aborted sex scene. Director Fredianelli even felt compelled to ape the great directors of Italian poliziotteschi by plundering chase footage from his earlier film, "Pale Blue Balloons", not unlike a young Unberto Lenzi. Also commendable is the amount of time the movie's stars spend prostrate on disgusting cheap motel-room floors, or wrapped up in unhygienic bed-spreads. I hope the movie was insured for scabies.
As the video exposure and sound quality tend to fluctuate during the movie's more diluted last 25 minutes, so do the more annoying performances--most of them having been regimented to smaller scenes earlier. The movie's mob boss is so over-the-top and vocally strangulated, it's uncomfortable to even contemplate his diaphragm amid all the spasmic line deliveries. Luckily, the movie's other heavies and cowardly underlings fill their shoes gracefully. The movie's romantic leads are both attractive and surprisingly good in their emoting between comedy and drama, with the bipolar subtext to Babs's character being burden enough without the movie's final scene demanding that both characters cry like absent truants from "The Breakfast Club". The movie's flimsy allegiance between Grant and Babs makes it hard for Michael Nose, as the government witness, to do much but complain, then flee, then don a gorilla suit, repeat ad infinitum. His performance as a Vietnam orphan-canine is one of the funniest moments in the movie, though. Movie's weepy last line, unfortunately, had many drunken patrons in the audience throwing bottles and cans at the screen, but there were more people staggering out of theater with tears in their eyes as well. Whether these were shed out disappointment that the theater management was ejecting the patrons after an 8 hour movie marathon is impossible to determine. A promised double-feature of a Ding Dong Hellon film and Aaron Stielstra's "Less Human Than Human" was cancelled only hours before.
Movie has exactly 178 potato sacks in its action sequences, be they involving gunplay, fight choreography or merely elderly parents being abused. I recommend Fredianelli bring up the volume on most of them, as they were sadly understated. Overall, a comedy like this, with so many expectations for itself, fulfills plenty. Myself and one ghetto audience in Cortez Heights, AZ. ate up Fredianelli's work, with few complaints. Though there were were several shrieks and bottomburps.
The movie's opening benefits from some excellent pacing, great soundtrack music (including a brilliant section of Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon"), nicely exposed photography, lots of brisk characterization--with Grant Oldman's failed job interview being a highlight--and audio that captures the subtle and not so subtle comedic moments. A surprising yet tragic encounter with a hobo only adds to the overall surprises the movie has to offer in its shifts in tone. Fredianelli is not afraid to explore themes of loneliness and mental illness amidst all the on screen lunacy, but actor Aaron Stielstra physically embodies substance-abuse and bewilderment perfectly.
Grant meets his reluctant partner-in-madcap-escapades, Babs, and the following hilarious visit with her dysfunctional family presents an even broader spectacle of humor vrs. drama. Babs's soft-spoken, homophobic father, who mutters things like, "John Wayne was a f-ggot." delivers a performance as chilling as it is sympathetic. Soon after, the chases begin. The subplot involving a government witness testifying against mobsters, unfortunately, carries little tension despite its importance to the story, but it does enable a supremely chaotic car chase that is a marvel of speed and gags, one involving a pane of glass that is highly creative. The numerous sound cues ("Invasion U.S.A."?) only add to the suspense, as well. Too bad the over-exposure in many of the movie's exterior shots extends from here on to the end. This also accompanies some more dramatic stretches that drain the movie of its original stamina.
One extended fight scene features impressive choreography and nice, fat sound design, while another subplot featuring a bumbling, Nick Nolte-resembling henchman with a penchant for slipping on bars of soap diverts from some of the unwelcome sentimentality starting to creep into the movie. The Nick Nolte-resembling henchman's line of "Barbara Streisand...I hate that b-tch! Way too Jewish!" had the dollar theater audience I saw the movie with rolling in the sticky aisles.
Speaking of filth, there's plenty of lurid color and undesirable elements to recommend the movie as well: several corned-beef-and-malt-liquor-consuming drifter types shine in their motel-room cameo, as does a fine-ass black prostitute. A morbid mob boss puppet sequence involving a corpse had the grindhouse in hysterics, as did the graphic squashing of a hobo beneath two speeding vehicles. Some inappropriate inserts from the Ding Dong Hellon epic, "A Decision To Choose To Ask Why" on a cheap t.v. created an interesting subtext to an aborted sex scene. Director Fredianelli even felt compelled to ape the great directors of Italian poliziotteschi by plundering chase footage from his earlier film, "Pale Blue Balloons", not unlike a young Unberto Lenzi. Also commendable is the amount of time the movie's stars spend prostrate on disgusting cheap motel-room floors, or wrapped up in unhygienic bed-spreads. I hope the movie was insured for scabies.
As the video exposure and sound quality tend to fluctuate during the movie's more diluted last 25 minutes, so do the more annoying performances--most of them having been regimented to smaller scenes earlier. The movie's mob boss is so over-the-top and vocally strangulated, it's uncomfortable to even contemplate his diaphragm amid all the spasmic line deliveries. Luckily, the movie's other heavies and cowardly underlings fill their shoes gracefully. The movie's romantic leads are both attractive and surprisingly good in their emoting between comedy and drama, with the bipolar subtext to Babs's character being burden enough without the movie's final scene demanding that both characters cry like absent truants from "The Breakfast Club". The movie's flimsy allegiance between Grant and Babs makes it hard for Michael Nose, as the government witness, to do much but complain, then flee, then don a gorilla suit, repeat ad infinitum. His performance as a Vietnam orphan-canine is one of the funniest moments in the movie, though. Movie's weepy last line, unfortunately, had many drunken patrons in the audience throwing bottles and cans at the screen, but there were more people staggering out of theater with tears in their eyes as well. Whether these were shed out disappointment that the theater management was ejecting the patrons after an 8 hour movie marathon is impossible to determine. A promised double-feature of a Ding Dong Hellon film and Aaron Stielstra's "Less Human Than Human" was cancelled only hours before.
Movie has exactly 178 potato sacks in its action sequences, be they involving gunplay, fight choreography or merely elderly parents being abused. I recommend Fredianelli bring up the volume on most of them, as they were sadly understated. Overall, a comedy like this, with so many expectations for itself, fulfills plenty. Myself and one ghetto audience in Cortez Heights, AZ. ate up Fredianelli's work, with few complaints. Though there were were several shrieks and bottomburps.
- HughBennie-777
- Jul 19, 2008
- Permalink
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