Ed(Jeff Goldblum), an insomniac who just found out about his wife's extramarital affair, is greeted by a frightened woman,Diana(Michelle Pfeiffer, who is simply beautiful)running from Iranians who just killed her friend. Come to find out, she had confiscated some foreign priceless stones from oversees and quite a few dangerous types, besides the Arabs(one is the director of the film John Landis and they often work collectively even eating peanuts at the same time, sitting at the same time, etc), such as a Frenchman named Melville(director Roger Vadim)& his psychotic, all-smiles hit-man named Colin(David Bowie). Diana has recently, supposedly, had a falling out with her sugar-daddy, Jack Caper(Richard Farnsworth)and hasn't nowhere else to turn once her Elvis-worshiping brother, Charlie(Bruce McGill)kicks her out of his apartment. The rest of the film has Ed and Diana stuck together, as fate would have it, going through one unusual situation after another always fleeing danger and trying to figure out how to relinquish the stones while also staying alive..and, especially from being caught by the police. There is a woman of great means, Shaheen(Irene Papas)who might be interested in the purchase of those jewels..and just might be behind those Iranians that always seem bound to wreck another apartment or home in search for those precious stones.
Unpredictable and bizarre, this film provides Landis and company an opportunity to string the viewer along with gags regarding Hollywood. The film is riddled with famous Hollywood directors in cameo roles, but my favorite scene is where Goldblum's Ed has a problem finding a place to rest up against when he awaits Diana(whose in a trailer talking to a friend)constantly crashing through props that look real. You see the setting is LA and Landis just has a field day allowing his characters to run headlong into mishap and danger at almost every turn as they slowly fall in love. What makes it work also, for me anyway, is how Goldblum dead-pans as the chaos surrounds him. The chemistry between Goldblum and Pfeiffer surprisingly gels and there's the typical Landis violent carnage that explodes in the airport towards the end. I'm sure those who know directors that were buddies of Landis, but they are the ones that'll enjoy the endless cameos.
Unpredictable and bizarre, this film provides Landis and company an opportunity to string the viewer along with gags regarding Hollywood. The film is riddled with famous Hollywood directors in cameo roles, but my favorite scene is where Goldblum's Ed has a problem finding a place to rest up against when he awaits Diana(whose in a trailer talking to a friend)constantly crashing through props that look real. You see the setting is LA and Landis just has a field day allowing his characters to run headlong into mishap and danger at almost every turn as they slowly fall in love. What makes it work also, for me anyway, is how Goldblum dead-pans as the chaos surrounds him. The chemistry between Goldblum and Pfeiffer surprisingly gels and there's the typical Landis violent carnage that explodes in the airport towards the end. I'm sure those who know directors that were buddies of Landis, but they are the ones that'll enjoy the endless cameos.