Category: Directed by Michael Ritchie
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Initially middling–and very dated in rather cringe-y ways–comedy about high school track coach Goldie Hawn talking back to her male boss (a cartoonish, but great, Bruce McGill) and getting transferred to be a football coach in the (eighties mixed race) ghetto high school! Too bad her literally evil ex-husband James Keach is pissed off about…
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Smile is the story of the week of a regional beauty pageant in a northern California town. It’s not exactly the story of the pageant, though it does look at some of the contestants, but it also looks at how the event affects the locals. Bruce Dern gets top billing and he does tie most…
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Fletch Lives is a dreadful motion picture. Typing out its title, I remember–once again–the filmmakers weren’t even creative enough to come up with a good title. There’s no pun in it, no reference to the film’s narrative–no one ever thinks the character has died only to come back in a surprise. Maybe it’s a newspaper…
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While Fletch has its technical high lights and Andrew Bergman’s script is strong both in dialogue and structure (though the Chevy-sized plot holes are a tad rampant), the film hinges on star Chevy Chase (not a car) being arrogant, likable, sincere and funny all at once. And Chase manages it. His dry, self-aware narrative even…
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I forgot MGM still made movies in the 1990s. The aura of bankruptcy and failure has surrounded Leo for so long… it’s distracting. I remember my Diggstown laserdisc sleeve. It’s been at least ten years since I’ve seen the movie. It’s still a great time and I’m left, as I always was when finishing it,…
The Stop Button 