Customer Reviews

Cadillac Man

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Critics (and I guess most audiences) seem to dislike this movie for looking like one kind of movie and yet turning into another and for not deciding whether it wants to be a comedy or a hostage drama. The beauty of the film the many times I have seen it is that it DOES make one both "laugh and cry," or, if not cry, "laugh and care" as though the characters are worth emoting with a little. Why is that bad? I don't know.

The other major criticism is similar, it is that the film should be either about sly carsalesman in a competition for their jobs or it should be about a hostage crisis and not spend the entire exposition setting us up for a car sales competition. Again, that the movie should pick what it is about more clearly, is the critique. This criticism seems thoroughly not to feel with the movie but impose expectations of formula unfairly on a surprising movie. The movie sets up the audience to empathize with the screwed up priorities of its screwed up protagonist (Robin Williams) only to put those priorities and all of his life in perspective with the insurgance of Tim Robbins' character into the situation.

It is a great movie about rediscovering what is important when there is a gun to one's head. AND a really funny comedy, so it is a movie that works both dramatically and comedically and genuinely turns me from a little sleazed by the beginning to feeling a little warm and gooey inside by the end. If only more films moved in that direction, daring to break with formula and introduce genuine drama while still managing to uplift the spirit by the end in a way that feels genuine, maybe we'd have more than one or two comedies worth watching every year.
Plus, Tim Robbins and Robin Williams are perfect in their roles and there's always the pre-nanny Fran Drescher to get a kick out of.

A movie that is definitely worthwile and deserving of the DVD release that it likely will be unthinkingly and unjustly denied.

Largely unknown and underrated, this film is truly marvelous. It was skewered by critics when it first opened with them calling it "uneven" and "odd." In fact, I hadn't known about it till a friend recommended it to me. When I rented it, I was truly touched. I understood that the film was supposed to be funny, but I can never say I truly laughed. Certainly not because it failed at this, but it is because these "jokes" and "one-liners" are who we are. This film represents the common men of society: hard-working, flawed, and sometimes easily manipulated. It carries out everything about the average joe (like me) so movingly and (oh yes) even powerfully that you don't know what genre this movie belongs in. In my local Blockbuster Video store, it is in the comedy section. In other video rental stores I've been in, it was in drama. Yet this movie belongs in a category of its own: the LIFE category. It is a film about the beauty and downfall of all of us. The cast: Williams, Robbins, and all the gals involved were perfectly cast in their stereotypical roles. It isn't a by-the-numbers cheery little comedy, but it is realistic and, just like in life, shows how we can start out from slapstick and work our way down to being held hostage at gunpoint having our lives on the line.

That's the basic problem. This film can't seem to make up its mind whether it wants to be a comedy or a hostage drama.

The acting is really pretty good -- how can it not be with Robin Williams, Tim Robbins and Fran Drescher? But the audience never knows whether to laugh or cry.

Five stars for creativity and taking a big chance. Unfortunately it doesn't work.

For us living outside the US Cadillac Man is a masterpiece of a light comedy, a sort of essential oil of Americana.
People and situations are both funny, real and so human, so far from the boring, rigid realities of old Europe.
We love it.

Robin Williams is so sleazy in this movie that it's easy to dislike the film, but it's a fine performance with great chemistry between him and Tim Robbins. Lots of laughs, and in the end, it turns out to be quite a "feel-good" movie. Watch it more than once... it keeps getting funnier!

OK, who knows the name of the song (& artist) that is played over the closing credits? the best part of the movie..

I saw this film back in 1990, when it first opened in theatres and I love it. Everything about it is extravagent: music, acting, set, dialouge, and plot. It is a funny yet suspenseful comedy/drama that will make you stick to your seat watching until the very end. Even during the closing credits, I wanted to sit through these to listen to that wonderful "Cadillac Man" song. Worth owning for the music alone!

I love this movie. It is about average people (like me) coping with life when everything is falling apart. My favorite scene in the movie is when Joey (Robin Williams), the car salesman, is concerned that Larry (Tim Robbins), whose wife is cheating on him, is going to commit suicide. Everyone is tense. Larry raises the gun to his mouth. Suddenly, Joey jumps up and says, "I got it! I got a plan!" - startling Tim Robbins and causing him to forget about the suicide. Not funny yet...but the ensuing conversation between the two of them is hilarious. Larry objects to Joey's plan, so Joey says, "If you don't like this plan, we'll make another plan." I can't count the number of times I've used that line to diffuse a tense situation.

This movie is worth a watch, but only if you are willing to pay attention to the myriad subtle jokes in it.

Those who think it only occasionally funny just weren't paying attention to EVERY scene with the hostage negotiation team in the restaurant, and lots of subtle jokes in the dialog between Williams and Robbins, and the phone calls out of the car dealership.

This movie took a chance with 'intelligent humor'. Not that the humor is that intelligent, it just doesn't hit you over the head with obvious jokes. It is a take off on the 'real' 'cookie cutter' hostage dramas, and the fun it makes of them is subtle. (For example, the cops' reaction, after disbelieving that Larry has brought explosives taped to his bike, when it is 'revealed' to them that he obtained them in Jersey. There is no over the top joke, but it is VERY funny if you are paying attention and have enough common knowledge to get it).

My husband loves it.He watches it all rhe time. I got it for him. got it right away, in good condition. Thanks