Bill Murray plays Grimm, a fed-up New York City bureaucrat who dresses up as a clown to rob a midtown bank. After Grimm has ditched his disguise, and he and his two accomplices (Geena Davis and Randy Quaid) head for the airport, the picture turns into a series of skits on the routine horrors of the city. Basically, it's a conventional caper comedy, but it's funny, because the gags are tossed off quickly and new characters keep coming at us. Murray co-produced (with Robert Greenhut) and co-directed (with Howard Franklin), and, although it's clearly a vehicle for him, he's actually less dominating than he was in the vehicles created for him by others. His attitude, wised-up and casual, holds the movie together, but he gives the other actors plenty of room, and many of them get brilliant bits of shtick to sink their teeth into. Bob Elliott (the surviving member of the great comedy team Bob and Ray) plays an elderly bank guard, a mild man who thinks he sounds fierce; his time onscreen can't add up to more than ten minutes, but every moment is pure joy. Tony Shalhoub, Philip Bosco, and Jack Gilpin all have wonderful moments, and there's a sublimely silly cameo by Stanley Tucci as a lisping, cringing gunsel. The picture has a core of sanity: it knows what it is, which is nothing much, and what it does best, which is observing strange behavior in familiar settings. Also with Jason Robards and Kurtwood Smith. The screenplay, by Franklin, is based on a novel by Jay Cronley. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006
The New Yorker
