By no means a great comedy, "Houseguest" actually comes across as being fairly entertaining thanks largely to the presence of the late, great Phil Hartman. Hartman's deadpan, ironic delivery always cracked me up on "SNL," and although his film career never really took off prior to his death, he had some good supporting roles, and this is one of them.
Sinbad is basically as annoying as ever (although, admittedly, not nearly as bad as some other comedians-turned-family-entertainers) and the plot is very basic and recycled - a guy on the run from some Mafioso types decides to take on the identity of someone else through a series of bizarre misunderstandings. In this case Sinbad finds himself pretending to be the old friend of Hartman's, who is now a brain doctor. There are actually some rather amusing scenes involving the forced and awkward such as when Sinbad is forced to give a speech on brain surgery despite knowing absolutely nothing about the topic.
Overall, not by any means a great comedy, but something that can easily divert your attention on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Sinbad is basically as annoying as ever (although, admittedly, not nearly as bad as some other comedians-turned-family-entertainers) and the plot is very basic and recycled - a guy on the run from some Mafioso types decides to take on the identity of someone else through a series of bizarre misunderstandings. In this case Sinbad finds himself pretending to be the old friend of Hartman's, who is now a brain doctor. There are actually some rather amusing scenes involving the forced and awkward such as when Sinbad is forced to give a speech on brain surgery despite knowing absolutely nothing about the topic.
Overall, not by any means a great comedy, but something that can easily divert your attention on a rainy Sunday afternoon.