Forgotten Film Friday: The Lonely Guy

A retrospective by Brooks Rich

This film is fucking bizarre. A mix of farce and romantic comedy this film is a sort of subversion of the '80s romantic comedy. At times it's like Airplane meets When Harry Met Sally meets a Woody Allen film. Steve Martin plays Larry Hubbard, a struggling wannabe novelist working for a greeting card company that suddenly finds himself as a lonely guy. No matter what he does he can't seem to find that special someone.

I don't think this is a fantastic film but it is an interesting film with different styles of comedy working for the most part. There's a real romantic comedy in there but there's the over-the-top goofy comedy at others.. The standout thing here is the main performance. Steve Martin is an American treasure and he absolutely is the number one thing that makes this movie work. His straight-faced playing of the hapless Larry makes the jokes land that much better, much like the dry delivery of Peter Graves, Robert Stack, and Leslie Nielsen in Airplane.

This film is streaming on Peacock right now. Again I do not think that this is a lost masterpiece from the '80s. I can see why it was forgotten. But I think some people will find this worthwhile. I can see some people also being completely pissed off by this. It's one of those you need to see for yourself.

Comments

Forgotten Film Friday: Absolute Power

Clint Eastwood stars as Luther Whitney, a jewel thief who works in the Washington DC area. One night while he is stealing from a mansion he is forced to hide in a secret compartment with a two way mirror. From there he observes a sexual rezendevous with the wife of a powerful man and the President of the United States Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman) Suddenly the president gets aggressive and while defending herself the woman is shot to death by two Secret Service agents. Luther manages to get away with a letter opener the woman stabbed the president with. At first Luther plans to flee the country. But when he is disgusted by a statement the president makes, Luther decides to expose the crime. I miss these kind of films. The nineties was a great time for thrillers exactly like this. They are not the flashiest films but they are also not obsessed with big action scenes. It's all plot and character with them. Sure this plot might be a little out there but Eastwood makes it work. He's...

Oscar Bait month: The Shipping News

A retrospective by Brooks Rich Lasse Hallstrom is one of those directors I think is incredibly talented but his films normally don't do a thing for me. There just always that comes up short for me, whether its the story or how its shot or the acting or something. Most people will know Hallstrom as the director of What's Eating Gilbert Grape, the breakout role of Leonardo Dicaprio. That is probably my favorite of his films. I know everyone loves Chocolat. Great, enjoy, I think it's lame. But today let's discuss his follow up to The Cider House Rules, his film from 1999 which did very well come awards season, and Chocolat. Both of these films did very well, especially The Cider House Rules. The big reward it got was Best Supporting Actor for Michael Caine. It also won Best Adapted Screenplay for John Irving. This isn't fair to Cider House Rules but I think it's overrated as far as nominations go. 1999 is one of the greatest years in cinema and really? We nominate...

John Travolta month: Saturday Night Fever

A retrospective by Brooks Rich So this was not the big start of John Travolta's career. That would be the classic sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. But this did elevate Travolta to another level. For any of you going oh come on. This silly movie with a disco soundtrack? Come on, Brooks. Just wait. Have you ever actually seen this? This isn't about disco. Disco just happens to be the music of choice. This about the kind of people who are kings at the dance clubs and then losers the rest of the time. There is a lot of darkness and truth in this film. So if you've never seen it please. Do yourself a flavor and check it out. Just watch it and then come back to read this. This is a movie about the different types of people we become between our real lives and our weekend lives. Tony Manero is a regular working class guy in a Brooklyn neighborhood, struggling to make ends meet and dealing with his loving but at times overbearing family. He lives in the shadow of his priest brother. ...

Cinema Basement

Search This Blog