 |
 |
| Directed by Sam Weisman; Starring Steve Martin, Goldie Hawn, John Cleese, Mark McKinney, and Oliver Hudson |
When trying to tell people why movies should not be remade I often fall back on the old adage of remaking movies that had potential but just did not work initially. This is proof that even that does not work. Many like Neil Simon’s The Out-of-Towners from 1970, but I’ve never seen its worth or its hilarity for that matter. I’ll admit that it had potential in being such an interesting story at first glance and with Jack Lemmon in the lead, it looked sure to be good. But nevertheless, The Out-of-Towners was one of Simon’s great shortcomings (his worst until The Odd Couple II).
Thanks to the ever so funny Steve Martin and John Cleese I was somewhat thinking this film might surprise me. It didn’t. The story of a couple that has to go to New York City from Ohio and the escapades that hit them on the way and upon arrival is just not funny. Besides the John Cleese parts, this film is nearly laugh-less. I think I laughed seven times with six of them being for Cleese. I’ve been a big fan of his since seeing Fawlty Towers for the first time and then his performances in A Fish Called Wanda and the underrated Fierce Creatures further fermented his comic abilities in my mind. The problem is that he is the only refreshing part of the entire film. Hawn hasn’t been funny for years and Martin seems bored with the material most of the time. My feeling on this film is that when New York Mayor Rudy Gulianni has a cameo its about time to give up on it.
