Ooh, how lucky you all are. Another film from my film library! It's probably pretty obvious by now that I enjoy buying and re- viewing comedies, for those days when my brain is too full to watch a heartier film. Michael Caine isn't one of my all-time favorite actors, but I love his portrayal of culture and decency in this flick, as a high-class con man out-conned by a low-class con man. The sequence in which he is explaining to Steve Martin (the low-class con man) why it is worth his while to keep wine that he will never drink or sell, tend gardens just for the pleasure of it, and gaze at statues in a museum to "feed the soul" is particularly funny because he knows darn well that Martin's character is going to think this is all a bunch of hooey. As usual (even in films that are poor showcases for his talent), Martin himself is beyond funny as he plays the dim- witted "brother" of Caine. (BTW, he's hosting the Academy Awards this Sunday, and I do hope that someone told him how stiff he was last time he hosted it because he is such a naturally funny person that he should be able to breeze through something like this. Stage fright?)
year: 1988
length: 110 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095031/combined
Monday, March 17, 2003
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment