Movie Review: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016)

Genre: War Drama  

Director: Ang Lee  

Starring: Joe Alwyn, Steve Martin, Vin Diesel, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart  

Running Time: 113 minutes  

Synopsis: After performing heroics during a firefight in Iraq, 19 year-old US Army Specialist Billy Lynn (Joe Alwyn) is on a two-week publicity tour of the United States along with his Bravo company members. In the lead-up to an appearance at the glitzy half-time show of a Dallas football game, Billy recalls the war experiences that led to death of his Sergeant "Shroom" (Vin Diesel). In the meantime a publicity agent (Chris Tucker) is trying to secure a movie deal for Bravo, the football team owner (Steve Martin) is eager to share in the glory, Billy's sister Kathryn (Kristen Stewart) wants to convince him to avoid re-deployment, and a cheerleader (Makenzie Leigh) shows a romantic interest.

What Works Well: This reflective drama delivers a blunt anti-war message with impressive visuals, while simultaneously saluting the soldiers dispatched to do the dirty work. Director Ang Lee seeks a sense of geographic disorientation among the Bravo team members, paraded onto a stage where they don't belong and exploited by wealthy men willing to underbid for unearned glory. Despite the surrounding razzmatazz, the clock is ticking towards the men's redeployment back to the hell of war, not that anyone on the home front cares beyond Billy Lynn's sister.

What Does Not Work As Well: More a message than a movie, the plot is directionless and never gains momentum. The Billy Lynn character provides insufficient weight to carry the narrative, and the collective group of soldiers is not much more than a compilation of banter and hijinks. The two most interesting characters are the mythology-inspired Shroom (already dead) and the grounded Kathryn (reduced to a couple of scenes).

Key Quote:

Billy: It's sort of weird, being honored for the worst day of your life.



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Movie Review: Three Amigos! (1986)

Genre: Comedy Western  

Director: John Landis  

Starring: Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Martin Short  

Running Time: 103 minutes  

Synopsis: In 1916, Lucky, Dusty, and Ned (Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short) are none-too-bright Hollywood stars who portray the dashing Three Amigos in a series of western movies. When they demand more pay, their producer (Joe Mategna) fires them. The Amigos respond to a telegram from Mexican villager Carmen (Patrice Martinez), believing they are putting on a show in return for an appearance fee. In fact Carmen needs the Amigos to rid her village of Santa Poco from dastardly villain El Guapo and his ruthless men.

What Works Well: Director John Landis finds some joy when he leans into The Magnificent Seven ethos and Spaghetti Western aesthetics. The Randy Newman songs glorify campiness, and capture the comedy spirit better than the script.

What Does Not Work As Well: Most of the jokes are dependent on exceptionally dim-witted behaviour, and so quite predictably fall flat for anyone over the age of 12. Martin, Short, and Chase share the screentime but rarely get opportunities to shine, with Chase seemingly the most disinterested. The local Mexican characters are imprisoned within stereotypical classifications: simple villagers, lustful bandits, and sweaty cantina occupants.

Key Quote:

Lucky: Well, we're just gonna have to use our brains.

Ned and Dusty: Damn it!



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Movie Review: Father Of The Bride (1991)

Genre: Comedy  

Director: Charles Shyer  

Starring: Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Martin Short  

Running Time: 105 minutes  

Synopsis: In an idyllic suburban California town, shoe company owner George Banks (Steve Martin) and his wife Nina (Diane Keaton) are surprised when their 22 year-old daughter Annie (Kimberly Williams) announces that she will soon get married. George struggles with the idea that his daughter is all grown up, and has awkward encounters with the groom-to-be, Annie's future in-laws, and wedding planner Franck (Martin Short). But George's biggest concern is the mounting cost of the lavish wedding.

What Works Well: This remake rides an easygoing attitude and a game Steve Martin performance to provide plenty of laughs and reliable entertainment. The script (co-written by director Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers) leans into the chaos of organizing a wedding and the wistfulness of a dad losing his princess to another man. The bathed-in-glowing-white settings are lavish (the Banks family is wealthy; their future in-laws are very wealthy), the pacing brisk, and the conflicts easily hurdled. In his few scenes, Martin Short as wedding planner Franck hilariously mangles the English language.

What Does Not Work As Well: The saccharine ingredients are unapologetically layered on in thick globs. George's inability to think or behave with adult maturity threatens to become tiresome, and his obsession with the cost of everything is allowed to dominate. A couple of gags, including kids-as-valets, miss the mark.

Key Quote:

Nina (to George): I still think you see Annie as a seven year-old girl in pigtails!



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Movie Review: Grand Canyon (1991)

A multi-story drama about race relations, the fragility of life, the ties that bind and growing societal chasms, Grand Canyon explores the remnants of the American Dream but is never as profound as it hopes to be.

In Los Angeles, immigration lawyer Mack (Kevin Kline) experiences a late night car breakdown in a bad part of town. Black tow truck driver Simon (Danny Glover) arrives just in time to prevent Mack being mugged by five black gang members. Simon's sister Deborah (Tina Lifford) lives in the same neighbourhood, and her son Otis is getting sucked into the gang lifestyle. While out on a jog Mack's wife Claire (Mary McDonnell) stumbles upon a baby abandoned in the bushes. She takes care of the infant for nine hours before Mack arrives home and insists that they call the police.

Mack's friend Davis (Steve Martin), an action film producer, is shot in the thigh during a violent mugging, and announces that he will henceforth be shunning violence on film in favour of life-affirming movies. At his office, Mack is avoiding the attention of intern Dee (Mary Louise Parker). The had a one night stand that she took seriously, but he wants no further involvement. Mack reaches out to Simon and tries to find a way to express his gratitude and return the favour, while Claire starts proceedings to become the foster parent for the abandoned baby.

An exploration of a supposedly enlightened fabric gradually fraying, Grand Canyon stares at often ignored emotional, physical and urban scars. Directed and co-written by Lawrence Kasdan, the film is halfway successful to making its point: human life is relatively insignificant in the overall scheme of things, and anyway beneath a thin veneer of civility, families and communities are on the cusp of collapse. The clumsy density of disturbing things happening to a few people undermines the intended flow.

The suburb where Mack and Claire seemingly live an idyllic life is also a place where scary hobos hang out and people abandon babies in bushes. Their marriage appears ideal: but in reality he has cheated and she is unhinged as her motherhood phase comes to an end. The inner city is beyond salvation, Mack's mugging a white man's taste of what kids like Otis are experiencing every day. Even the glitzy world of Hollywood is not immune: Davis is shot for an ironic taste of his own medicine.

Kasdan counterbalances the fear mongering with the evolving relationship between Mack and Simon. Mack makes the effort, Simon responds and a friendship is born, although it remains an extremely awkward step across the racial divide: Mack arranges a blind date for Simon with co-worker Jane (Alfre Woodard), but only because they happen to be the only two black people Mack knows by name.

The film suffers from an overeagerness to appear weighty, the dialogue often overburdened with meaningful conflict at the television drama level, Mack seemingly unable to go one day without yet another serious encounter. Kasdan also succumbs to the obvious symbolism apparent in the film's title, including inserting shots of menacing helicopters whirring over Los Angeles at too-frequent intervals.

The stellar cast performs with the expected level of expressive solemnity, Danny Glover emerging with one of his career best roles as a seen-it-all tow truck driver possessing astute observations on the ways of the world.

Intelligent but just a touch too smug, Grand Canyon carves an interesting but sometimes shallow path.

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Movie Review: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

A gleaming comedy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels enjoys star power and a convivial attitude but also falls into self-inflicted traps of excess.

On the French Riviera, Englishman Lawrence Jamieson (Michael Caine) is a well-established con artist specializing in fooling women into willingly handing over their cash and jewelry. Lawrence pretends to be a suave Prince-in-hiding of a small country under siege by communists, and convinces vacationing lonely rich women to part with their wealth to aid his cause. He is helped in his ruse by local police Inspector Andre (Anton Rodgers).

Lawrence's easy life is disrupted when American con man Freddy Benson (Steve Martin) invades his turf. A low level operator, Freddy scams meals and a few bucks off women with sob stories about a sick grandmother. Lawrence's repeated attempts to bounce Freddy out of town fail. They finally agree on a bet: whoever can first fleece soap baroness Janet Colgate (Glenne Headly) out of $50,000 gets to stay in town. Freddy adopts the identity of a Navy veteran paralyzed due to psychological scars; Lawrence responds by pretending to be psychologist Dr. Shaffhausen, the only man who can cure emotional paralysis. They both play on Janet's emotions, but winning this bet will not be easy for either man.

Directed by Frank Oz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a glossy comedy with a sly attitude, capitalizing on two stars in fine form. With vivid colours capturing the idyllic sun-drenched opulence of the Riviera, the film pops off the screen, never takes itself seriously and offers a steady stream of laughs. The script is witty and contains a healthy dose of one-liners, while Martin offers up his brand of more physical comedy, resulting in a rare combination of smart and crass.

But Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is also flabby and suffers from stretches of tedium. The running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes is a good 15 minutes too long for the material, and Oz shows no ability to end a joke at its peak. Individual scenes carry on longer than necessary, but particularly weak is a stretch where Lawrence convinces Freddy to play the role of idiot young brother to scare off women who are starting to think of seeking commitment. Encouraging Martin's worst childish tendencies, Oz stretches out the joke over several painful scenes long after the point is made. The game of devious one-upmanship between Freddy and Lawrence in pursuit of Janet's money is also stretched too thin, the battle of wits becoming predictable the more unlikely twists it takes.

Both Michael Caine and Steve Martin are good at what they do, but in the head-to-head acting battle, Caine easily comes out on top. He allows less to be more, using an economy of actions and pauses to speak from themselves. Martin is all about over-emoting and over-expressing. Both actors are consistent with their characters, but Caine's comedy comes across as sophisticated and restrained, while Martin is simply churlish and juvenile. In one of her career highlight roles Glenne Headly demonstrates clever comic timing, and proves a worthy match for her more famous co-stars.

Mischievous, frivolous, and lightweight, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a fun frolic.

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Movie Review: Planes, Trains And Automobiles (1987)

A comedy about the trip home from hell, Planes, Trains And Automobiles finds writer and director John Hughes graduating from teenagers to adults, and maintaining his clever ability to mix humour with humanity.

It's two days before Thanksgiving, and marketing executive Neal Page (Steve Martin), in New York for a meeting, just wants to hop on a plane and get home to Chicago where his wife Susan (Laila Robins) is waiting patiently. Neal is a relatively quiet and introverted man, and his trip starts off badly when his attempts to hail a cab are unintentionally thwarted by shower curtain ring salesman Del Griffith (John Candy). Neal finally makes it to the airport only to find his flight delayed, then he finds himself squished into the middle seat next to Del, who is a boorish, talkative bore.

With bad weather over Chicago, the plane is diverted to Wichita and the two men find themselves sharing the same motel room. Neal discovers Del to be a disgusting slob, but also an honest, resourceful and somewhat lonely man. With most flights grounded, Del arranges for the two men to travel by train, and momentarily Neal starts to believe that things are looking up. But then the train breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Neal and Del are thrust back together again, still a long way from Chicago.

After having made his name directing a series of teenage-oriented comedies renowned for treating young adults as real people, Hughes fully graduates to grown-ups, and loses none of his magic. Planes, Trains And Automobiles exaggerates to good effect, but is otherwise a comedy propelled by a story familiar to all travelers: the seemingly innocuous flight that turns into an ordeal. At an efficient 92 minutes, the film keeps the laughs coming at a steady pace, and uses side characters, including a car rental desk clerk and a local Wichita pick-up driver, to inject big laughs at regular intervals.

At the heart of the story Neal and Del interact like rotating magnets, alternating between being pulled together through circumstance and then pushing away due to abject incompatibility. Just when it seems the two men cannot survive a minute more in each other's company, Hughes expertly pulls out the pathos card and reveals the humans behind the comic masks, drawing the two men back together out of compassion or sympathy.

Hughes deploys Del's character extremes to maximum comic effect, turning the stereotypical salesman into the worst possible nightmare travel companion. Del has stinky feet, turns the bathroom into a mess, explodes beer cans all over the bed and makes animalistic noises before falling asleep. He also has the uncanny ability to make any situation worse, and to actively tempt residual bad luck just when good luck appears to get a foothold. If the film has a weakness it resides in Hughes carrying Del to an extreme; he too frequently steps over into caricature territory.

It would take the worst possible confluence of ill-timed and unfortunate events for the domesticated Neal to tolerate Del, and in the context of what should be a short flight from Chicago to New York, unfortunate events are all that Neal will get. Cab competitions, delayed flights, seat booking mess-ups, foul weather, a taxi literally from hell, bad motels, horror car rental companies and failing trains. If it can wrong, it will on this trip.

Steve Martin and John Candy reach career highlights under Hughes' guidance. Martin perfects his ordinary but combustible man facing intolerable chaos, and Candy steps out from the sidekick shadows to share centre stage, allowing Del Griffith to be chief comedy maker but never losing sight of the solitude at the heart of living on the road.

The film moves towards revealing the true nature of Thanksgiving, as one way or another Neal and Del are forced to look past their incompatible exteriors to finally confront the person within. Planes, Trains, And Automobiles features plenty of transportation modes failing to deliver, but is ultimately about the people inside the machines reaching true destinations.

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Movie Review: L.A. Story (1991)

A comedy romance loaded with biting satire of Los Angeles life, L.A. Story hits most of its intended targets, but also chooses ridiculously easy targets to aim at.

Harris Telemacher (Steve Martin) is the wacky weatherman on a Los Angeles television station. He is in a rocky relationship with girlfriend Trudi (Marilu Henner), but they break up when he discovers her sleeping with his agent. Harris slips into a lonely funk, but then meets British journalist Sara (Victoria Tennant), and they start to fall in love. A freeway changeable message sign starts to communicate with Harris, providing him with advice on love and life, and urging him to take risks. But Sara's ex-husband Roland (Richard E. Grant ) would like to win her back, while Harris finds himself irresistibly attracted to young salesgirl Sandee (Sarah Jessica Parker).

Written by Martin and directed by Mick Jackson, L.A. Story's primary objective is to make as much fun of Los Angeles as possible. And all the usual topics that are worth poking are here: the predictable and rarely changing weather, the obsession with driving for even the shortest trips, gun violence on the highways, California cuisine, plastic surgery, inane topics of conversation, earthquakes, and the trendy restaurants that are impossible for normal people to get into. Martin packs his story with deserved digs at his city, and generates a steady stream of laughs.

But beyond the broad satire, the rest of the film is thin on the ground. Victoria Tennant was Mrs. Steve Martin at the time of filming, and there is a whiff of a personal project about the movie. Martin attempts to elevate the central romance to something mystical, complete with a freeway sign that provides oblique life advice and a sojourn into a fantasy garden where everything old is new again. It's all rather emotionally obvious, and the film starts to resemble a couple's photo collection, special to them but ordinary to others. A sideshow running gag involving Harris being filmed rollerblading through museums and art galleries misses the mark and goes nowhere.

The other romantic comedy elements are lined up and knocked off according to the genre's well- established traditions, Harris and Sara both lonely and struggling to fit in, falling for each other, and then labouring to overcome the usual complications of lingering past and present attachments.

The supporting characters offer little that is memorable, with one exception. The best performance by far is delivered by Sarah Jessica Parker, who creates in Sandee a free-spirited, carefree young woman who can never stop twirling, bouncing, rotating and climbing all over Harris, all while incessantly chewing gum. Amidst all the satire, Sandee is Los Angeles, young, alive, positive, adventurous, incapable of standing still, and often clueless.

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Movie Review: Parenthood (1989)

A comic drama about the joys and sorrows of parenting, Parenthood presents a rich microcosm of the challenges that come with raising kids, through many stories within five generations of one large family. Despite the sprawling narratives, director Ron Howard keeps a tight reign and allows his large cast ample opportunities to shine.

In St. Louis, Frank Buckman (Jason Robards) lives close to three of his grown children and their families. Frank's son Gil (Steve Martin) and his wife Karen (Mary Steenburgen) are doing their best to provide their three kids with a middle class upbringing. Despite Gil being an engaged and active Dad, their eldest son Kevin is tense and causing trouble at school. Gil's sister Helen (Dianne Wiest) is a single mom struggling to raise two teenagers. Her daughter Julie (Martha Plimpton) is already sexually active, much to her mother's horror, and Julie thinks that she is in love with boyfriend Tod (Keanu Reeves), who is pleasant enough but not exactly ready to support a family. Meanwhile, Helen's son Garry (Joaquin Phoenix, credited as Leaf Phoenix) is mad at the world and skulks around carrying a mysterious paper bag.

Gil's other sister Susan (Harley Kozak) is married to the nerdy Nathan (Rick Moranis), and he is an obsessive parent, insisting that their young daughter Patty should only ever be exposed to higher learning concepts beyond her years, with no fun or childlike activities. Gil's younger brother Larry (Tom Hulce) is the black sheep of the family, always looking for the next big deal, and he washes up in town broke, seeking money, and with an unplanned child called Cool in tow. With Larry having no life skills except self-delusion to fall back on, Frank has to confront the eternal duties of being a father.

Howard, screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, and producer Brian Grazer were all dealing with fatherhood issues as Parenthood was being conceived and created, and they poured their experiences into the film. The result is a genuine movie with heartfelt emotions, filled with the humour, anxiety, unexpected drama and the delightful moments of joy and fulfilment that accompany parenting.

Of course, for comedic impact and with Steve Martin's presence, some jokes are milked to exaggerated levels, and ironically it is in the prolonged scenes when Martin is given plenty of leeway that Parenthood is at its weakest. Gil's impersonation of a party balloon cowboy is pushed to childish extremes, and there is no need for him to celebrate like a jerk when Kevin's little league baseball team finally wins a game.

But for the most part Parenthood succeeds in capturing the highs and lows of raising kids, with Steenburgen and Wiest delivering the most memorable performances. Steenburgen's Karen is happy to be the wind beneath Gil's wings as the quiet and rational force that keeps the family together. Wiest as Helen starts the movie in an utterly chaotic place, her life rapidly unravelling. Her husband has left her and she is losing influence over both Julie and Garry. But from among all the Buckmans Helen adapts the best to the ever-changing demands of parenting, and by the end of the movie she has regained the respect of her kids by taking decisions that are instinctively correct if traditionally unconventional.

Susan and especially Nathan are prototypes for parents ill-informed about what it takes to raise a well-adjusted child, pushing poor little Patty into mental adulthood at around age four. Susan snaps to reality and catches Nathan's attention just in time for him to still be able to change and rescue Patty's childhood. Susan and Nathan are the only couple in the film that have to deal with a serious wedge, and in the film's most romantic scene Moranis gets to serenade Kozak to try and salvage their relationship.

Jason Robards lends a weighty presence as the patriarch fully aware that he may not have been the greatest dad, but also perceptive enough to know that the role never really ends. The story arc between Frank and Larry is the most poignant, because Larry is most like Frank while also being the biggest failure in Frank's life, and they both know it. Tom Hulce portrays Frank as fast-talking and irresponsible, but alert to the fact that the number of people he can fool even part of the time is dwindling rapidly.

Parenthood is a classy salute to the most noble of human endeavours, celebrating all the failings and insecurities needed to make the successes that much sweeter.

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Movie Review: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

A film noir salute and satire, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid has one trick up its sleeve but wears out its welcome relatively quickly. The splicing of clips from old classic movies into the film's narrative is only a modest success, and too often the story bends awkwardly to accommodate the next available fragment from the past.

Private detective Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin) is hired by the smouldering Juliet Forrest (Rachel Ward) to investigate the mysterious death of her father. A noted scientist and expert cheese maker, John Hay Forrest has apparently died in a car crash, but Juliet believes that he was murdered. Rigby is immediately smitten by Juliet and agrees to help.

His investigation involves interacting with characters played by Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster among many others from a host of classic noir films. The sleuthing leads Rigby to two lists of names labelled "Friends of Carlotta" and "Enemies of Carlotta", and an evil plot that is costing the lives of many. The mystery involves a cruise ship filled with passengers, a remote island, a new weapon of mass destruction, and remnants of the Nazi regime hoping to reclaim past glories.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is more of an editing workshop than a serious movie. Inserting Martin into classic scenes from noir films including Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Dark Passage maintains a decent amount of interest, but it's all unfortunately at the expense of any absorption in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid itself. The movie settles into a series of virtual interactions with stars from the past, and on its own, generates no momentum.

A story that quickly reaches for the absurd and then purposefully strides towards the inane does not help. A smelly cheese-as-a-weapon narrative boorishly announces itself as a sacrificial lamb at the altar of the editing on display.

Martin and Rachel Ward are likable as a bumbling couple, and both over-act with the enthusiasm of stars who do not need to take the project all that seriously. The script gives them a few, but not many, good moments. Juliet is an expert at a bullet-sucking and Rigby is brilliant at always getting shot in the same spot on his arm, and both jokes run out of steam in a hurry. There are at least as many crass moments as clever ones, an unfortunate failing of the script co-written by Martin and director Carl Reiner.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a good idea with average execution, a case of a flawed modern film mostly serving to highlight the enduring impact and star power of the classics.

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The Movies Of Steve Martin

All movies starring Steve Martin and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

The Jerk (1979)

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Three Amigos! (1986)

Roxanne (1987)

Planes, Trains And Automobiles (1987)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Parenthood (1989)

L.A. Story (1991)

Father Of The Bride (1991)

Grand Canyon (1991)

Housesitter (1992)

Bowfinger (1999)

The Pink Panther 2 (2009)

It's Complicated (2009)

Love The Coopers (2015, narrator)

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Bowfinger (1999)

A boisterous comedy that surpasses a modest premise, Bowfinger brings out the best from two legendary comedians. Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy team up and deliver the quality chuckles in a story of Hollywood ingenuity on a shoestring.

Producer Bobby Bowfinger (Martin) lives off the scraps that bottom-feeders leave behind. Broke and desperate to manufacture a hit, he latches on to a ludicrous alien invasion script called Chubby Rain by accountant Afrim (Adam Alexi-Malle). Bowfinger uses about $2,000 that he collected as a child to finance the project, and hires illegal migrants as his crew and the straight-off-the-bus Daisy (Heather Graham) as his leading lady.  He also dreams up the idea of surreptitiously filming scenes with action superstar Kit Ramsey (Murphy) and inserting them into the film, thereby creating a star vehicle without having to secure or pay for a star.

Ramsey has an irrational fear of conspiracy theories and alien abduction scenarios, and uses the services of MindHead (a Scientology-like institution) and its head Terry (Terence Stamp) to barely keep his life together. Meanwhile, Bowfinger hires Kit's younger and slower brother Jefferson (also Murphy) to use as a stunt-double. When Bowfinger's actors start hovering around Kit and incomprehensibly interacting with him for the benefit of hidden cameras, Kit's paranoia spirals out of control, but Bowfinger is undeterred in his quest to secure his movie.

Bowfinger clearly defines its targets and squarely hits every one. Making a good movie about the making of a bad movie is not easy, and credit goes to Martin's barbed script, which combines sharp industry satire with broad humour. Director Frank Oz shoots over the shoulder of the fake production, exaggerating with a sharp outline everything in Bowfinger's film that makes cheap productions cheap, from poor acting to rudimentary special effects and unlicensed use of locations.

The character of Bowfinger is ridiculously resourceful, and Martin clearly had a grand time creating a producer who can get things done on next to no budget. From swiping a fashionable jacket to deploying his dog to create scary footstep noises, Bowfinger is never out of ideas on how to get the next scene into the can and Kit Ramsey into his movie without spending a dime. Martin keeps his acting relatively understated, allowing the ingenuity of the character to emerge unhindered by physical histrionics.

Murphy delivers astute comic timing in both his roles. Kit Ramsey is filled with loud bravado but also wracked by the insecurities of an undeservedly wealthy star, and Murphy switches between authoritative and submissive with delightful precision. His performance as Jefferson is even more arresting, the younger brother making up for the lack of intellect with an ever-present smile, even more heart, and wide-eyed enthusiasm for being anywhere near a Hollywood production.

Heather Graham adds to the fun by riffing on her Boogie Nights persona. Daisy treats sex like cold currency, and methodically sleeps her way to better information and better exposure. Even on lousy Bobby Bowfinger productions there are benefits for a starlet to sleep her way to the top, despite the top still being the bottom. Terence Stamp occupies the deep dark centre of MindHead, Martin's script taking the time to aim purposeful jabs at the manufactured nonsense of money-milking psychobabble duping conceited stars while masquerading as religion.

Christine Baranski as a has-been actress trying to reclaim old glories, and Robert Downey Jr. as a successful director occupying a diametrically opposite world to Bowfinger but sitting at the next table, complete the cast.

Bowfinger is bright and breezy, and in less than 100 minutes exposes the other side of movie-making glamour, where the mixture of misplaced ambition and deep-seated desperation creates rich territory for plenty of laughter.

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Movie Review: Housesitter (1992)

An average romantic comedy with a mellow mix of mild laughs and middling passion, Housesitter neither agitates nor excites. Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn are both a tad too old for their roles, but quickly settle into pleasant-enough whimsical jousting.

Davis (Martin) is a strait-laced but creative Boston-based architect, madly in love with Becky (Dana Delany). He tries to convince her to marry him by designing and building a huge house in his idyllic hometown of Dobbs Mill. She turns him down. Three months later, a still-depressed Davis has a one-night stand with flighty waitress Gwen (Hawn), pouring his heart out to her about the still-empty house and his broken heart. When Gwen wakes up alone, she treks to Dobbs Mill, finds the house, establishes it as her residence, and convinces all the townsfolk, including Becky and Davis' mother and father (Julie Harris and Donald Moffat), that she is now married to Davis.

One lie leads to many more, and soon Davis arrives and joins in the treachery. Realizing that Becky is suffering pangs of jealousy and is much more interested in him now that he is found attractive by another woman, he prolongs the charade of pretending to be married to attract Becky's increased attentions. Gwen also sets about improving Davis' stature at his architecture firm by schmoozing his boss with another mountain of lies. But while Davis is naively using Gwen to win Becky's heart, Gwen harbours desires to turn the sham marriage into a real relationship.

Martin and Hawn, both at 46 years old, should really be beyond this material. Hawn tries hard to fit into younger clothes, but all the leotards and short skirts are a tight and awkward fit, sacrificing elegance for finagled sexiness. And at this age, Gwen's personality of the free-spirited ditzy blonde who can't stop manufacturing elaborate lies is a sign of at least severe immaturity and more likely mental illness, neither attributes that should be attractive to a staid architect.

Martin's Davis is also difficult to explain, shown to be a good and competent architect, yet labouring at a drafting table more suitable for a recent graduate, and not yet in possession of basic business skills such as not insulting the boss in a moment of glory.

In other words, the Mark Stein script not only telegraphs every intention in bold letters, it is fundamentally contrived to play-up the screen personas of the two leads, regardless of the passage of time. But experienced pros that they are, Martin and Hawn make the most of it. In as much as characters in a story all about lying can pretend to be convincing, they have fun without ever needing to stretch as a couple hating to fall in love with each other through a thicket of falsehoods, and they uncork decent chemistry as two misfits slipping into something resembling love.

And while it is easy to see how Davis would eventually get enamoured by a resourceful woman who brings out the best in him, it's a bit more challenging to uncover how she hopes to benefit from the relationship, other than by living in a big house with a boring and somewhat dim husband.

Director Frank Oz maintains breezy pacing and captures plenty of small town New England charm, Concord, Massachusetts among the settings providing a scenic backdrop for the complex romance.

Housesitter is unremarkable and inoffensive, with enough chuckles and well-intended syrup to liven up the party at a large, airy house.

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Movie Review: Roxanne (1987)

A mild comedy that combines reasonable sophistication with some rough edges, Roxanne showcases Steve Martin's talent without breaking free of reliance on rather obvious gimmickry.

Based on the play Cyrano de Bergerac, Roxanne tells the story of small town fire chief Charlie "C.D." Bales (Martin), who has a ridiculously long nose, and is hyper sensitive about it. Respected by the community but lonely in his love life, C.D. is smitten by astronomer Roxanne Kowalski (Daryl Hannah), renting a house in town for the summer. But Roxanne only has eyes for hunky and dim firefighter Chris (Rick Rossovich).

Both Roxanne and Chris turn to C.D. as a trusted advisor to help move their romance along, and C.D. takes an active role in wooing Roxanne on behalf of the hapless Chris, feeding him lines of conversation and writing love letters for Chris to sign.

Filmed in scenic Nelson, British Columbia, Roxanne has the undeniable charm that comes with quirky characters dealing with matters of the heart in a small town setting. This is pushed too hard in some cases, with the comic antics of the volunteer firefighters more suitable for a low-brow slapstick comedy. But Roxanne does reach a few comic peaks, most notably when C.D. delights the locals at the town cafe by coming up with 20 original one-line insults about the size of his nose.

Steve Martin delivers a generally confident performance, but still defaults to unnecessary dependence on juvenile physical shenanigans rather than fully trusting the story and characters to deliver genuine warm humour. Daryl Hannah sparkles as Roxanne, the effortlessly attractive outsider who turns the heads of all the locals. Rick Rossovich leaves a trail of dangerous question marks surrounding his performance, as he is unable to convince that Chris' wooden demeanour is due to the character rather than the actor. Shelley Duvall is largely wasted as the local cafe owner.

Director Fred Schepisi matches the laid back and friendly small town vibe with a light touch on the controls. When he is not focusing on the lush rural scenery, Schepisi maximizes the visual impact of Martin's extraordinary beak from various angles, with some of the head-on camera shots cleverly concealing the nose size until just the right moment.

Roxanne sniffs out and inhales a mostly harmless and sometimes pleasing middle ground of romantic comedy aromas. It is rarely breathtaking, but it also never stinks.

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