A decent comedic job by John Cleese manages to salvage a cheesy, over-the-top acting job by Kevin Kline in this comedy about four crooks who try to find where stolen loot is hidden. Cleese plays a British barrister who is seduced by Jamie Lee Curtis. Curtis is also dating Kline, which creates a series of situation where Kline, fueled by jealousy, stalks the couple. There’s also Michael Palin playing a animal loving crook who stutters.
While Cleese has clearly demonstrated his comedic muscles in Monty Python vehicles, Kline really became increasing annoying with his attempts to be physically funny. It’s just not his thing.
In the meantime, Jamie Lee is somewhat passable in her acting as the manipulative money-hungry seductress.
The film just didn’t do a whole lot for me. The plot twists were ok, but nothing that kept me on the edge of my seat. The comedy lacked any “Laugh-out-loud” moments.
Watched on Netflix instant demand.
Cleese has natural comedic talent. The others didn’t bring their best stuff in this film.
Nothing really notable, other than an awkward use of a fuzzy lens in some shots. I don’t know if this was intentional to soften the image or not, but it was kind of odd. I’m sure there’s a cinematic term for this. I’m just calling it weird in this film. You can soften Kline’s image all you want. His comedy was still bad.