(Review originally written at 20 July 2007)
This was a rather awkward little movie to watch and I'm not sure what to think about this one. The movie is definitely supposed to be fun but it just isn't. I didn't realize this movie was supposed to be a comedy until the music kicked in, which was definitely comedy-style. The movie is made in a far too serious style.
The movie could had worked out, if only the director was just a better one. It was Howard Zieff's first movie and this definitely shows on screen. Nothing flows well, the characters don't always work out and because of this all the movie also doesn't work out as it was supposed to. I guess that in its core the movie had some more potential but the execution of the mixture of styles works out unbalanced, with as a result a movie that hardly ever works out.
James Caan still tried to make his character more interesting by portraying him as a sort of shy loser. Perhaps he did this because he wanted to do something totally different after his role in "The Godfather", which he had just completed before this movie. But I mean come on! James Caan is just not believable as a loser. He is far too cool looking for that, especially in the '70's he was.
There isn't much to the story really. To me it seemed like a moder retelling of "Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo", set in modern small-town USA. Problem is that there just isn't happening much interesting in the story at all. At points the movie could had really used some more pace and more exciting sequences with action in it.
The movie mostly tries to be fun with its quirky characters that pop-up into the movie. It makes the movie fairly amusing and prevents it from being completely unwatchable but its all not good enough to make this movie a recommendable one either.
It's just not a very funny movie. A movie that missed its mark completely but it luckily still has some redeeming qualities to save this movie from being a complete disaster.
5/10
This was a rather awkward little movie to watch and I'm not sure what to think about this one. The movie is definitely supposed to be fun but it just isn't. I didn't realize this movie was supposed to be a comedy until the music kicked in, which was definitely comedy-style. The movie is made in a far too serious style.
The movie could had worked out, if only the director was just a better one. It was Howard Zieff's first movie and this definitely shows on screen. Nothing flows well, the characters don't always work out and because of this all the movie also doesn't work out as it was supposed to. I guess that in its core the movie had some more potential but the execution of the mixture of styles works out unbalanced, with as a result a movie that hardly ever works out.
James Caan still tried to make his character more interesting by portraying him as a sort of shy loser. Perhaps he did this because he wanted to do something totally different after his role in "The Godfather", which he had just completed before this movie. But I mean come on! James Caan is just not believable as a loser. He is far too cool looking for that, especially in the '70's he was.
There isn't much to the story really. To me it seemed like a moder retelling of "Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo", set in modern small-town USA. Problem is that there just isn't happening much interesting in the story at all. At points the movie could had really used some more pace and more exciting sequences with action in it.
The movie mostly tries to be fun with its quirky characters that pop-up into the movie. It makes the movie fairly amusing and prevents it from being completely unwatchable but its all not good enough to make this movie a recommendable one either.
It's just not a very funny movie. A movie that missed its mark completely but it luckily still has some redeeming qualities to save this movie from being a complete disaster.
5/10
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