Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Unfortunate choice for a remake, March 21, 2002
Thirty years ago, Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis starred in the original version of The Out of Towners. It was moderately successful with the public and the media. As society changed over time, so did much of what we find humorous. Back then, it was funny when the Beaver disobeyed his parents. Today, much laughter is evoked when an audience sees a kid who does obey. The Beaver would be an outcast, a nerd. We have become enormously more worldly. As was the original, the remake of The Out of Towners is a comedy about a series of mishaps that befall a naive Ohio couple when they venture to New York City. Their plane is rerouted to Boston. They fail to catch a train from there to the Big Apple. Then they rent a car, which they wreck minutes after arriving in Manhattan. Things go downhill from there. This unfortunate pair is Harry and Nancy Clark, played by Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. Both stars give it their all, but they are no match for the way Lemmon and Dennis portrayed the couple. Hawn and Martin are comedians whose success depends on the material they are given to work with. [This is why Martin excels in movies he writes and/or directs.] Dennis and Lemmon were serious actors who can cross over into comedy. What was so funny in the original was the way the two took the mishaps so seriously. They looked and acted like an innocent Midwestern pair. Martin and Hawn come off as too glib and sophisticated to ever have such events happen to them. The movie has its moments, especially when Martin is seemingly allowed to ad-lib. His scene in Central Park, where he winds up after accidentally taking a hallucinogenic drug, is priceless. The incredible Englishman, John Cleese, has his moments as an ultra-snobbish hotel manager. Perhaps the major problem with The Out of Towners is that the story is dated in ways no rewrite could fix. New York has changed dramatically. I find much of it to be safer and friendlier than many other big cities. Times Square, once the haunt of panhandlers and prostitutes, now seems about as dangerous as Disneyland. Harry Clark is successful in the advertising business, and Nancy was once his partner, Jetting from place to place is the norm for such professionals these days, and it no longer makes sense that he hasn't been to New York before. People from the sticks are way more sophisticated than they were thirty years ago. They simply don't freak out like they used to when they go to big cities. The yokel and the redneck are dying breeds. So, today's Harry and Nancy don't seem like a couple accidentally caught in an urban hell. They seem simply ignorant.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
You know you're in trouble when..., September 15, 2001
...you're watching a movie with 3 heavyweights (Martin, Hawn and Cleese) and you laugh 3 times. The problem with this remake of the Lemmon-Dennis classic is that we've seen it all before done much better. See "National Lampoon's Vacation", "Dutch", "Fandango" and Martin's own "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". Any one of these "travelling comedy of errors" is considerably more humorous. When the original came out it was something new. It had Jack Lemmon going over the top and really getting the most out of every scene in the film. Lemmon screaming at the top of his lungs-taking down everybody's address, dealing with the cab driver, the dark stranger in Central Park, the fight with the dog over the Cracker Jacks, the chipped tooth, Murray the hotel locator, rain and garbage all over the streets, broken heal and just so much more. Steve Martin's version of George Kellerman is lazy and nearly humorless. It loses sight of the original's comic storyline: New York kicking this simple Ohio couple's butt at every turn and the couple deciding to go back home. It does have Cleese as a closet transvestite (perhaps the films only funny moments). Check out the original or one of the other films mentioned here. This just isn't worth the time.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not A Classic, But Still Entertaining., January 16, 2003
Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn have reputations that precede them, and when they're in a movie together, you know it's going to be a mildly funny screwball comedy. That's exactly what this movie turns out to be. This is the story of Henry and Nancy Clark (Martin and Hawn, respectively), an Ohio couple who have a son that they've just sent off to study abroad for a year, and a daughter who quit medical school to become an actress in New York. Henry has just gotten fired from his job at an advertising firm and now he must go to New York City to interview for a job at the only company that's interested in hiring him. Nancy tags along on the trip, and before you know it, the adventure begins. They begin by having their plane re-routed to Boston and the airline losing their luggage. They can't get a bus to New York City, they miss the Amtrak by just a few seconds, and then they get stuck with a rental car with a heater that won't shut off. They damage their rental car, get mugged by an Andrew Lloyd Webber impersonator, and get kicked out of their hotel. All of that happens in just the first 20 minutes of the movie. These problems and inconveniences keep mounting, and during the whole time they're looking for food to quell their hunger, a place to rest, and a way to kick-start their stagnant marriage. Like I already mentioned, this movie is mildly funny, but still not on par with other movies these two actors have made. Steve Martin is a veteran of these types of comedies, but he's not as good here as he was in movies like "Father of the Bride". He's always been great at playing the well-intentioned goof, but he just doesn't sell it as well here. Goldie Hawn is an Academy Award winner, but it's clear that her best work is behind her. She's also been in better movies of this genre. In the grand scheme of things, this movie will probably rank as one of the lesser works on these two actors' resumes. However, if you're looking to entertain yourself for 90 minutes, this movie will do the job.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
